


The Raven's Nightingale

by teapotscandal, XanderB



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Artist Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Blood, Bottom Eren Yeager, Crimes & Criminals, Crossdressing, Dark, Dirty photos, Drugs, Edgar Allen Poe references, Explicit Consent, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Face-Fucking, Facials, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Gay Sex, Gore, Hybristophilia, Loss of Virginity, Love Letters, M/M, Masturbation, Mental Instability, Mild dick stepping, Modern Era, Morbid Imagery, Murder, Mutual Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Obsession, Obsessive Behavior, Obsessive Eren Yeager, Obsessive-Compulsive, Oral Sex, Organized Crime, Panties, Poetry, Possessive Eren Yeager, Possessive Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Prison, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Romance, Self-Harm, Serial Killer Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Shower Sex, Smut, Stalking, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Violence, Violent Sex, erotic asphyxiation, explicit violence, kinkiness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-08-11 06:47:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7880638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teapotscandal/pseuds/teapotscandal, https://archiveofourown.org/users/XanderB/pseuds/XanderB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The rattle of his front door did nothing to stir Eren as he continued to stare at the video of the courtroom before him.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Levi Ackerman, this jury finds you guilty of twelve counts of murder in the first degree and hereby sentences you to the maximum penalty equal to that of your crimes in the form of twelve consecutive life sentences to be served in a maximum security penitentiary without the possibility of parole,” a woman’s voice spoke through the speakers. Eren felt his heart clench.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Eren,” said a voice from behind him. Armin had come to visit once again. He felt a hand press onto his shoulder from where he sat, trying to garner attention away from his Raven. “Eren… This is unhealthy. You need to eat... You need to sleep… I need you to take care of yourself, please,” Armin said with a hoarse voice, choked by the state of his best friend.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“No,” Eren said, shrugging off his hand. “What I need to do is be here for Levi when he needs me.”</i>
</p><p> <br/>*Disclaimer* : We don't own Shingeki no Kyojin, nor do we make any profit off the writing of this fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Living in Your Letters

**Author's Note:**

> Please heed the tags and warnings. This fic is seriously intense and there will likely be a lot of triggers that we honestly will likely forget to label from chapter to chapter, so consider this your forewarning now. We'll try our best to label as we go, but no promises. 
> 
> Brace yourselves for an epic and beautifully twisted love story that was inspired by the relationship of Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn and Joker. Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it.
> 
>  **Warning:** This work is rated mature for graphic depictions of nudity, sexuality, violence, and some imagery that may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Please note all poems used in this chapter are accredited to Edgar Allen Poe.

It was pitch black in Eren Jaeger’s apartment other than the computer and tv screen that illuminated his face with eerie white light. He couldn’t leave the spot in front of his screens to eat or sleep let alone open the windows to let the sun in. He’d been like this ever since ‘The Raven’ trial began weeks ago. The love of his life was standing trial for multiple murders and Eren couldn’t miss a precious moment of his beloved.

Eren’s obsession with ‘The Raven’ began eight years ago when he was eighteen and first heard of a serial killer that had been on a rampage for years. The case interested him due to the killer’s unique calling card; the word ‘Nevermore’ left on his victims’ corpses. Edgar Allen Poe was one of Eren’s favourite poets, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of connection he felt with this murderer. It started with the boy just collecting newspaper articles about the man, then evolved into a full blown obsession. He was in love with ‘The Raven’ and the brutal carnage he left in his wake.

The day the man was captured was the first day Eren ever saw the man’s face; beautiful in it’s chilling and cruel angles. Everything from the man’s pale complexion to his black undercut and the slight smirk that never seemed to leave his face even when they’d had him cuffed and pressed against a brick wall, attracted Eren to ‘The Raven’ whose real name was Levi Ackerman, world renowned and successful artist, known for his macabre pieces and refusal to speak about the works. From then on, he’d started to collect every photograph he could find of the man, and plastered them all over his apartment so that he wouldn’t get lonely.

The rattle of his front door did nothing to stir Eren as he continued to stare at the video of the courtroom before him.

“Levi Ackerman, this jury finds you guilty of twelve counts of murder in the first degree and hereby sentences you to the maximum penalty equal to that of your crimes in the form of twelve consecutive life sentences to be served in a maximum security penitentiary without the possibility of parole,” a woman’s voice spoke through the speakers. Eren felt his heart clench.

“Eren,” said a voice from behind him. Armin had come to visit once again. He felt a hand press onto his shoulder from where he sat, trying to garner attention away from his Raven. “Eren… This is unhealthy. You need to eat... You need to sleep… I need you to take care of yourself, please,” Armin said with a hoarse voice, choked by the state of his best friend.

“No,” Eren said, shrugging off his hand. “What I need to do is be here for Levi when he needs me.”

“But Eren,” Armin said with exasperation, “He doesn’t even know who you are… It’ll make no difference…”

“It does!” Eren yelled, turning away from the screen for a moment to glare at his friend, “He needs me.” He quickly returned to the screen, lifting his hand to the glass to pet his beloved.

“Eren listen,” Armin said slowly, “What if I told you there was a way to contact Levi? Would you eat something for me if I told you how?”

Eren whirled around at Armin’s words. “You can contact Levi? How?”

“Not until you eat and bathe,” the blonde said, crossing his arms.

Eren quickly got up and stumbled his way to the bathroom to shower. Only after he was somewhat cleaned up with his belly full of food and his apartment bright with the light from his windows did Armin explain the prison pen pal system. This was the letter Eren gave to Armin to send:

" _Dear Levi,_

_My name is Eren Jaeger and I'm you're biggest fan. I've been following you for years; even when I only knew you as 'The Raven'. I couldn't believe you got caught, but now I can write to you through the prison pen pal program. How are you doing? Are you angry you got caught? I think it was underhanded what they did to catch you. I would beat those fuckers up for you; just say the word. Attached is a picture of me and a sample of your favourite tea. Please please please write back_

_Yours,  
Eren Jaeger._

~~~~

Levi was laying on the sterile white cardboard they claimed served as his mattress, the bed frame, a stone slab protruding from the wall of the cell he called his own for what was meant to be his at least three lifetimes longer than he'd live, but he was hardly affected by that. He was reading as he laid there, always reading these days. 

They didn't let him see the others anymore; he had a reputation for being a poor sport in the prison games. They'd learned that early on. He'd never played well with others, especially those that thought themselves worthy to touch him with their filth, and so they kept him alone, isolated, but gave him books to lose himself in. The guards sometimes thought to taunt him, but rarely did he respond at all. 

He turned a page, silently mouthing the words as he read the poem that was his namesake and smiled to himself. 

He growled when he was interrupted by the harsh clang of a baton against the bars of his cell and his most hated caretaker grinned at him. "Hey there little bird, you got mail. Seems somebody loves you after all, hm?" Nile Dok called from at least a foot away from the bars. Levi snorted. **Coward...**

Levi marked his page though he had the number memorized already and slipped off his bed. He cracked his neck and rolled his head on his shoulders, staring the guard down with hollow silver eyes. Nile swallowed visibly and Levi's smirk returned. Nile was afraid of him, even with the bars that kept him caged. "You want me to read it out loud for all your pals to hear?" the guard asked, though his voice was turning shaky the longer Levi's eyes remained on him. 

Levi cocked his head, "Nile, I'd suggest you simply give it to me before I lose my temper and demonstrate to you how even caged birds can be dangerous," he said in a quiet, almost playful tone, stepping closer to the bars. The guard licked his lips and his eyes shifted away from Levi, obviously becoming nervous, used to the killer simply ignoring him, rather than engaging him. Levi raised a brow and reached out a pale hand expectantly. "Come now, I'm losing my patience."

Nile scowled nastily and in an attempt to regain his lost pride, he tossed the letter into the cell, hoping to land it in the stainless, seatless toilet, though it fell short by several feet and settled on the unusually clean concrete floor. Levi rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. "One day, you're going to regret your childish antics Nile," he said as he turned to retrieve the mail he'd not ever been expecting. The guard scoffed. 

"Yeah, who's gonna make me? Your wings been clipped and you'll be dust before they'll ever let you out," the guard replied snidely before he turned and strutted away from the cell to likely harass another inmate that would provide less frightening reactions.

Levi shook his head, smirking as the man left. "There will be a day Nile... The Raven will come for you; he comes for us all," he murmured, plucking up the letter from the floor and flipping it in his hands, scanning the address and name on the front of it with interest.

He laid back on his mattress before carefully opening the letter, prying the glued flap from the envelope without tearing it. He peeked inside curiously, taking out the little tea sample and photo from within and setting them on his chest to unfold the letter and read it over. He was smiling by the end and lifted the tea to his nose, inhaling its scent deeply and closing his eyes to savour it. How long had it been since he'd had a cup of his favourite brew?

He hummed his approval, setting the tea aside and instead taking up the picture and scrutinizing the image of a young, attractive brunette man with the most stunning eyes he'd ever seen. So this was Eren Jaeger. This was the boy who wrote sympathy and compliments and claimed himself as Levi's.

When the guards came again, he demanded pen and paper and time outdoors in the sun to write his response. After all, what kind of gentleman could he call himself if he left the boy pining for an answer to his pretty begging? 

It wasn’t Nile thankfully and so he was granted his request without much fuss, let out into the cage that at least had fresh air and natural light, still left alone, watched, but he didn't care about their gazes. The world had watched him for years anyway. 

He wet his lips and seated himself cross-legged on the little patch of grass provided and began to write in a meticulously elegant scrawl. 

_Dearest,_

_Thank you for your kind words. I'd not expected them and expected even less the quickening of my heart in my chest._

_To answer your inquiries, I was disappointed that my work was disrupted, but I have faith that I will continue it someday. You needn't worry about me. And I am as well as can be, caged as I am, though I'll admit, I was a little lonely before I received your letter. I must ask though, why a lovely little songbird such as yourself would want to sing for me?_

_I hope to hear from you again soon. Thank you for the tea. I'll think of you while consuming it._

_The following poem I gift to you. I hope it finds you well._

_In visions of the dark night_  
I have dreamed of joy departed  
But a waking dream of life and light  
Hath left me broken-hearted. 

_Ah! what is not a dream by day_  
To him whose eyes are cast  
On things around him with a ray  
Turned back upon the past? 

_That holy dreamthat holy dream,_  
While all the world were chiding,  
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam  
A lonely spirit guiding. 

_What though that light, thro' storm and night,_  
So trembled from afar  
What could there be more purely bright  
In Truth's day-star? 

_Desperately Wanting,_

_Levi_

~~~

Eren checked his mail about three times a day, everyday, from the day he first sent his letter. He knew logically, in the first couple days, there was no way it would have been received that quickly, but his anxiety wouldn’t be abated without at least checking.

As the weeks wore on, and no letter came, Eren became… Unstable. He couldn’t stop thinking about the man, stared at his favourite picture of Levi constantly; kept it tucked in a breast pocket next to his heart. The young man got to the point where he almost thought he would die if Levi decided to ignore him. It was on his second trip to the post office one day where he received a white letter, postmarked by the jail that Levi stayed in, with elegant handwriting on the front spelling out Eren’s name. Eren squealed with delight as his legs gave out and he collapsed on the post office floor in tears. _Levi had written him back_. Several employees came to ask if Eren was alright, but he shrugged them off, standing up to practically sprint out the door and head back to his apartment. 

Once there, he delicately opened the letter and read it. He almost fainted again reading over Levi’s eloquent words, saying that he was happy with Eren, saying he wanted Eren to write him again. Eren blushed bright red as he held the letter to his fast beating heart. He promised to make Levi even happier; nothing but the best for The Raven he loved so. 

Eren tore through his apartment looking for the best paper and pen he had. He had to slow down and breathe for a moment so he could think and stop his hand from shaking when he wrote. 

_Dear Levi,_

_I waited so long for your reply, I thought it might never come. I felt like I could die from longing, but there was no way my life could end before I was able to speak to you after all these years of infatuation with your work and then you yourself. The first time I saw your face on the news after only dreaming what you could look like, I thought I saw the image of a God in your beautiful eyes. I was instantly captivated._

_I am worried about you though. There is no way a man such as yourself should be forced to be in contact with the scum of our society. You should be free to continue your work. I hope to one day see that happen, and maybe be by your side when it does._

_I will sing whatever you ask me to. Whatever you want. I want to be of use to you._

_Your letter is now my most valuable possession. I will keep it close to my heart alongside my favourite picture of you._

_With this letter I will be sending a box of sweets from the most expensive store in my city. I hope they will let you have them._

_Yours,  
Eren Jaeger._

~~~

Levi would not say he was eager to receive Eren's response, but he did tend to wait by the barred doorway of his cell every day around the time the mail came around. He wouldn't say he was disappointed when each day for nearly two weeks, nothing came for him, but he did look at the picture of the young man every night before lights out and he may have tucked Eren's letter away, pressed between the pages of his favourite poems.

When the letter came, it was Nile that brought it once again. He was eating a box of confectioneries as he tossed the envelope through the bars again much as he had the first one and Levi growled just as irately. Nile stood outside his cell while Levi was reading and grinned when Levi turned to glare at him upon reading the end of Eren's letter.

"Those are not yours," he hissed, "They were meant for me."

"Well, that's too bad. I was hungry," the guard replied, avoiding Levi's eyes even as he attempted to remain in control. 

“You're racking up regrets Nile," Levi said, with the letter folded against his chest. 

"I want to go outside to write back," he demanded after a moment. He hadn't been outside all week even though it was required he receive an hour every day. The guards, particularly Nile, often _forgot_. 

"No, I don't think so. After all, your attitude today leaves something to be desired. Maybe you'll be repentant if I don't let you write your sick love letters outdoors today, hm? Maybe you won't be so unwilling to share your treats next time," Nile sneered, whistling smugly as he turned on his heel and sauntered off down the corridor. 

Levi snarled and threw the newest copy of the bible they had given to him at the bars. "You're going to be sorry," he whispered before he flopped down onto his bed, pulling out a notebook they'd provided him along with the dulled pencil he been allowed since the last letter he had written.

_Nightingale,_

_I'd love nothing more than to hear you sing for me, but certainly you must pick the song. My days were so long these past few weeks. I thought I might have missed you. I've never missed someone. Perhaps I was lonelier than I first thought._

_The tea was delicious, though I can’t say much about the sweets as I did not get to taste them. As a matter of fact, if you send another letter and more edibles, I'd very much appreciate it if you could add something special for my friendly guards as they seemed to enjoy the treats very much._

_They would not allow me outside today to write you, but that is alright I suppose. Looking at your photo reminds me of the sunshine anyways. It's too bad I can not see you in the sun or under the stars. I'd love to know if your skin is as soft as it looks. I want to know more about you, about the songs you like to sing and I want to know every feeling you have when you read my words. I want to know your scent, your voice, and flesh. Strange how fast these desires flourish, isn't it?_

_I've another poem for you and a little picture; forgive me, I'm not much of an artist these days. I hope they find you as well as the last._

_"It was many and many a year ago,_  
In a kingdom by the sea,  
That a maiden there lived whom you may know  
By the name of Annabel Lee;  
And this maiden she lived with no other thought  
Than to love and be loved by me. 

_I was a child and she was a child,_  
In this kingdom by the sea,  
But we loved with a love that was more than love—  
I and my Annabel Lee—  
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven  
Coveted her and me. 

_And this was the reason that, long ago,_  
In this kingdom by the sea,  
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling  
My beautiful Annabel Lee;  
So that her highborn kinsmen came  
And bore her away from me,  
To shut her up in a sepulchre  
In this kingdom by the sea. 

_The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,_  
Went envying her and me—  
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,  
In this kingdom by the sea)  
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,  
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. 

_But our love it was stronger by far than the love_  
Of those who were older than we—  
Of many far wiser than we—  
And neither the angels in Heaven above  
Nor the demons down under the sea  
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 

_For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams_  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;  
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;  
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side  
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,  
In her sepulchre there by the sea—  
In her tomb by the sounding sea." 

_Eren, be my Annabel Lee?_

_Lonely and losing sleep drowning in your eyes,_

_Levi_

The little drawing was of a hummingbird, trapped in a spider's web and it was beautifully detailed despite Levi's modest words about his ability in art. They’d so obviously been a lie, considering what the man’s legitimate career had been.

~~~

Eren saw red when he read the next letter. _How dare they eat Levi’s treats._ Eren would make them _suffer_. Going to the grocery store and the pharmacy, he got the ingredients for cookies that he was sure the guards would **love**.

Before he started his baking, he took his old polaroid camera and took a picture of himself in an apron in front of the ingredients; chocolate chips, sugar, eggs, high strength laxatives, and ipecac. His smile was devilish and he hoped Levi would approve of his cooking skills.

He went over the letter in his head. He thought to himself as he held the camera. If Levi couldn’t see him under the sun and stars in person then maybe Eren could show him using pictures. 

_Dear Levi,_

_I would want nothing more in life if I could be your Annabel Lee. All I want is to be yours and please you. Ask me for anything and I will try and grant your request._

_I know that pictures pale in comparison to real life, but I have attached dozens of pictures of the outside for you to view at your pleasure. Mostly they are pictures of things I find beautiful._

_I also sent pictures of myself. If you do not want them, tell me in your next letter and I will refrain. I’m a little embarrassed about some of them._

_I hope the guards enjoy my home cooking._

_Your Annabel Lee,  
Eren <3_

Eren mailed the letter before he could talk himself out of it. His face was red as he hid it in his hands outside the post office. The pictures of himself he sent Levi were innocent. Some out in the sun, some under the stars. He’d driven an hour out of the city to get a picture where they showed just right. Eren would try and do anything Levi asked of him. Except the man didn’t ask for a shirtless picture in bed or the photo of his ‘wall of Levi’; every photo and article he had of the man hanging in a mosaic on his bedroom wall.

Eren also sent him a picture of the hummingbird drawing, framed and hanging above Eren’s bed. The drawing had been framed almost immediately after Eren had received it. 

~~~

Levi smirked to himself as he read over the letter and looked over the first few pictures of Eren before glancing over at a gloating Nile and a couple other guards munching away on the gifts his songbird had sent for him. He chuckled, glancing back at the picture with Eren and all the ingredients he'd used in making the treats and back to the guards again, dark amusement in his cold silver eyes. 

"What are you laughing for freak? You think it's funny that we've taken your precious little snacks from your creepy little fangirl?" Nile asked nastily, wiping crumbs from his mouth with the back of his arm. 

Levi's smirk curled on his lips maliciously and he said in a low amused tone, "Oh no, my Nightingale made those specially for you. Did they taste good?" 

Nile paled and he and the other guards wasted no time in escaping down the hallway, some already clutching at their stomachs. 

The pale killer chuckled again and laid himself out on his bed to go through all of the pictures and reread his letter in peace. A small, serene smile spread over his lips as he looked at the pictures of Eren in the sun and under a canopy of stars, their light reflecting in those captivating eyes the colour of the sea at sunset. He hummed appreciatively, staring for several long moments before he moved on to the next and then the next, entirely satisfied with the gifts Eren had sent and the affirmation he had written. Eren belonged to him. 

_Dearest Nightingale,_

_You are ever so clever. The guards appreciated your homemade treats ever so much._

_Your pictures are lovely and you flatter me. Send me as many as you like; they brighten my accommodations and I can almost forget where it is I am. I'm so pleased you agreed to be mine. You won't be disappointed. I long to feel you._

_I like to imagine what it would be like... When the lights are out and there is finally silence, in the hours I never sleep, I close my eyes and see yours. I'd kill for the chance to see them in the light. And I wonder what your lips taste like. I'd very much like to taste you._

_Someday, I should like to have you at my side while I do my work. I've never had company before. I've always worked alone, but for you, I would make an exception._

_Someday, we should meet._

_For you, I have only these words and these little drawings, but they are my gifts to you._

_"Romance, who loves to nod and sing,_  
With drowsy head and folded wing,  
Among the green leaves as they shake  
Far down within some shadowy lake,  
To me a painted paroquet  
Hath been—a most familiar bird—  
Taught me my alphabet to say—  
To lisp my very earliest word  
While in the wild wood I did lie,  
A child—with a most knowing eye.  
Of late, eternal Condor years  
So shake the very Heaven on high  
With tumult as they thunder by,  
I have no time for idle cares  
Through gazing on the unquiet sky.  
And when an hour with calmer wings  
Its down upon my spirit flings—  
That little time with lyre and rhyme  
To while away—forbidden things!  
My heart would feel to be a crime  
Unless it trembled with the strings." 

_Caged, but yet untamed,_

_Levi_

The drawing was one of a dove with a broken wing, the feathers of its left wing darkened with what was meant to be blood; it was morbid and melancholy, but just as beautiful as the first had been.

~~~

After Levi had said he enjoyed Eren's photos, Eren started to go to new places just to take pictures for Levi with a new expensive DSR camera. He went to all the hot spots around his city; restaurants, parks, monuments, festivals, art galleries, and museums just so that Levi could experience a taste of life outside the prison. Eren of course added in photos of himself eating the food, sitting in the sun, and looking at exhibits. He'd never taken so many photos of himself before. From Levi's letter, the man seemed to be attracted to Eren, but he remained sceptical.

He wrote little blurbs on the backs of each photo, detailing what he was doing and wishing that Levi was with him. Eren decided if the man was lonely, then he would try his best to make him feel wanted. The last picture in about two hundred photos he would be sending was Eren wearing frilly panties and thigh highs posing like a pinup for Levi's viewing pleasure. He really hoped that Levi would like this picture. On the back he wrote "Thinking of you. Tell me if you want me to wear anything different." 

_Dearest Raven,_

_I may have gotten a bit carried away with taking pictures. I hope you aren't bothered. I have a desperate need to please you, in every way, but I feel like it's almost impossible._

_Every night, I kiss your photo goodnight and leave it under my pillow so I can be as close to your image as possible. I dream of you constantly; your touch, your voice, the way you smell, the way you would taste. My imagination is running wild with thoughts of you._

_Levi, may I come visit you in person? I fear this longing might ruin me. I can't take being apart for much longer. I need to see you at least once in person so that I can stay strong and wait for you. I will wait for you forever, but please grant me this one request._

_Your gifts are my most treasured possessions. I feel my heart ache whenever you deign to give someone as lowly as me anything._

_I've attached about ten samples of tea since you are unable to receive baked goods._

_Your Nightingale,  
Eren._

~~~

Levi ignored the guards entirely, silently awaiting the arrival of the mail each day. He needed to see more of Eren, to see more of his devotion. The boy’s constant praise and flattery made him feel warm in a manner he had not experienced before and now that he had, it was a relative addiction. He couldn't fulfill the compulsions he had to do his work, but knowing Eren appreciated it and for them to exchange romantic words over it was as satisfying as drawing the blood itself. 

He'd started to entertain fantasies in which Eren was at his side while Levi worked, that he would smile in approval, maybe he would even teach Eren to assist. His Nightingale understood the importance of his work and Levi had never had anyone who had before. No one even tried to understand. He'd always been alone, even in a crowd. 

When the next letter came, the envelope was thicker than any of the others previous and he snarled angrily and lunged at the guard that had the audacity to throw it so carelessly onto the floor of his cell. He ended up with bloodied knuckles, courtesy of a guard's baton when he'd attempted to claw his partner's throat out; Levi cursed him and threatened worse for his transgression. 

The guards scrambled away from his cell as if they had just survived a brush with death and so they had; they'd just been lucky.

Levi paced with the envelope for several long moments, trying to calm down his racing heart. He didn't want to get too excited; Eren could still disappoint him. As soon as he opened the thick manila paper, he knew the boy had not. Eren belonged to him entirely and the heady rush of possessiveness that ran through him made him hot beneath his skin the same way watching life fade to death did. Eren must be his soulmate; after all they said everyone had one somewhere in the world. To be so deserving as to meet his, surely he’d done something right.

He smelled the tea samples one by one and thought about how carefully Eren had picked them out for him, how long it must have taken him to choose the perfect ones. He looked at the pictures, spreading them out around him one after the other and smiled. Eren was showing him his world, making him a part of it and he had asked to be a part of Levi's, begged him. How could he refuse? 

By the last photo, the guards were calling lights out and Levi only had minutes to take it in, breath hitching and eyes dilated, but it was burned into his memory even as the lights tapered off and only the dull flood lights remained. He collected all the photos and carefully tucked them away, absolutely refusing to allow anyone else to even glimpse them. He was the only one to see them, to see Eren that way. He'd take pleasure in slowly killing anyone else that did.

He squinted in the lowlight, curled on his side and writing his response, unoccupied hand palming himself unconsciously through the thin material of his prison issued pajama bottoms.

_Sweetest Nightingale,_

_You sing such sweet lullabies that I can no longer sleep at all and time drags by at the worst kind of pace while I wait for more. It is almost unbearable._

_I almost killed a guard today for his lack of regard for your precious letter. You ask... You beg to see me. I want to see you too._

_If they will let me see you, you must come. I need to hear your voice and taste your lips. I want to try these teas with you._

_Your pictures were exquisite, especially the last. You tease me so; I want to put marks all over you. You say you'll wear whatever I like, but I like your skin the most so I would say wearing nothing at all would be best. You're beautiful my songbird, surely you must know that._

_Take these words and this drawing as tokens of my affections. I want you Nightingale; you'll only sing for me._

_"The lady sleeps! Oh, may her sleep,_  
Which is enduring, so be deep!  
Heaven have her in its sacred keep!  
This chamber changed for one more holy,  
This bed for one more melancholy,  
I pray to God that she may lie  
Forever with unopened eye,  
While the pale sheeted ghosts go by! 

_My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep,_  
As it is lasting, so be deep!  
Soft may the worms about her creep!  
Far in the forest, dim and old,  
For her may some tall vault unfold—  
Some vault that oft hath flung its black  
And wingéd pannels fluttering back,  
Triumphant, o’er the crested palls  
Of her grand family funerals— 

_Some sepulchre, remote, alone,_  
Against whose portals she hath thrown,  
In childhood, many an idle stone—  
Some tomb from out whose sounding door  
She ne’er shall force an echo more,  
Thrilling to think, poor child of sin!  
It was the dead who groaned within." 

_On a bed of nails, I wait,_

_Your Pining Raven_

And the picture that was drawn took up an entire page of it's own. Two ravens side by side sharing a bloody meal, but so obviously delighted in each other's company.

~~~

_Dearest Raven,_

_Thank you for granting my request._

_Attached are the most intimate photos I have ever taken of myself. No one has ever seen me this way; only you. I hope they are to your liking._

_See you soon. <3 _

_Your Nightingale,  
Eren._

The photos Eren sent were about fifty in total and all naked. Eren took them from every angle he possibly could so Levi could see everything without actually being with him. He was furiously bright red in a lot of the photos, wanting to hide his face, but Levi would want to see it all, even the face he made. 

The last few photos were of Eren masturbating while thinking of Levi. Eren felt the very last photo was the most erotic of them all; himself, bright red, panting, looking dazed and covered in his own cum. 

He sent the letter, more confident this time that he had granted Levi's wish, then began planning his trip to the prison. It was about a five hour drive away, but Eren didn't mind; he would drive to the ends of the earth to meet Levi.

Finally the day came when he could embark on his trip. He hopped in his Mercedes Benz sports car and drove like a maniac all the way to the prison. He made it in about three and a half hours. 

Walking in through the public entrance, he went up to the glass of the service worker.

"Hi, my name is Eren Jaeger," he said to the employee with a smile that rivalled the sun, "I'm here to see Levi Ackerman." 

The worker’s bored expression became one of surprise before they composed themselves and said, "I need two pieces of government issued photo identification, then you have to wait." 

They hurriedly picked up the phone and talked into it behind the glass where Eren was unable to hear while the young man dug through his wallet for his license and his passport. He gave them up to be copied then was directed to a waiting room to wait for Levi to be brought from his cell, or so he was told. 

Six hours later, Eren had given up his seat to pace in the waiting room. No one had come to retrieve him and visiting hours were over. 

"Sir," the worker called from the desk, "You need to leave." 

"I can't leave yet," Eren cried with tears brimming his eyes, "I haven't seen Levi yet."

The worker’s eyes held a bit of sympathy before they said, "Inmate Ackerman has refused the visitation. I'm sorry sweetie." 

"That can't be," Eren whispered to himself as tears rolled down his face. He stormed out of the office to sit in his car in the deserted visitor parking lot. Resting his head on the steering wheel, Eren pulled out Levi's photo. "You don't want to see me? But you said you did," he rambled to Levi’s photo. "Maybe today's just a bad day. That's it," Eren said with a smile, sniffling and wiping his tears, "I'll come again tomorrow. And if he doesn't want to see me, then I'll come the next day and the next." He nodded to himself and pulled out of the parking lot.

~~~

The photos Eren had sent were lovely, absolutely lovely. Levi spent a whole night looking at them and when the lights were out, he couldn't help but imagine the grip of his own hand as Eren's body instead. What he wouldn't do to be inside the boy that had ensnared him. And Eren... Eren had implied they would meet soon. 

He didn't write back right away, having to wait for more paper and a fresh pencil which the guards kept neglecting to bring for him. He was frustrated and livid by the time they finally did and it came with something worse. 

His lips twisted into a dark scowl when Nile's baton made harsh contact with the bars of his cell, the sharp clang disrupting Levi from the intent response he was writing to his songbird. He folded his papers up and set them aside and stood to come towards the barred doorway when Nile only gave him a nasty grin and gestured for him to come closer. 

"Guess who came to see you today?" He said lowly, taunting in the words. 

Levi's silver eyes widened, then narrowed and he grit his teeth, "Where is he?"

The guard chuckled maliciously. "Oh, we had to tell him you didn't want to see him. You've been in such a terrible mood lately, we thought it would be best," he said with false compassion. Levi growled ferally and his hand shot out swiftly, catching the guard's uniform, yanking him harshly forward against the bars. 

He leaned in to murmur close to Nile's ear. "You haven't seen me in a bad mood Nile, but you're going to very soon. You'll let me see him or you’ll pay with your life. Do you think I can't make it excruciating? You think this iron cage will hold me forever? When I'm free, you'll be the first meal I feed The Raven. I'll leave your entrails for your wife and brats to find," he threatened darkly, hissing and letting Nile go at the sound of rapid footfalls coming their way. Obviously Nile's comrades had come to rescue him. 

Nile stared at Levi as the pale inmate stepped back away from the bars, looking for all the world like the cat that had gotten the canary. Levi stared right back with a dangerous and deadly smirk on his lips. Nile swallowed hard; the small man in the cell looked positively predatory. "I-I'll see what I can do."

"You do that," Levi replied lowly before he went back to his drawing and writing of the letter he'd been composing. 

_My dear sweet Nightingale,_

_It burns me that they have kept you from me. I have never regretted my capture so greatly until now. I would live in the cell a thousand lifetimes and never mind, but this... This is a worse punishment than the worst of hell._

_Your pictures... Your pictures make me ache for you and now I will burn to ash because of these bars that keep us apart. I will kill them... I will kill all of them for you, just to touch you with my eyes, even if my fingers are bound and my mouth gagged, to see your skin would be enough until I am free again._

_Come to me again Nightingale; I'd never turn you away. They cannot keep me from you forever. We have eternity._

_"Once it smiled a silent dell_  
Where the people did not dwell;  
They had gone unto the wars,  
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,  
Nightly, from their azure towers,  
To keep watch above the flowers,  
In the midst of which all day  
The red sun-light lazily lay.  
Now each visitor shall confess  
The sad valley’s restlessness.  
Nothing there is motionless—  
Nothing save the airs that brood  
Over the magic solitude.  
Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees  
That palpitate like the chill seas  
Around the misty Hebrides!  
Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven  
That rustle through the unquiet Heaven  
Uneasily, from morn till even,  
Over the violets there that lie  
In myriad types of the human eye—  
Over the lilies there that wave  
And weep above a nameless grave!  
They wave:—from out their fragrant tops  
External dews come down in drops.  
They weep:—from off their delicate stems  
Perennial tears descend in gems." 

_Drowning in desire,_

_The Weeping Raven_

The attached drawing was of a raven in flames, devouring it's own heart, chest cavity blown open and bleeding and Levi bit into the flesh between his thumb and forefinger in order to colour the shaded sanguine fluid. Eren should have his blood. His Nightingale deserved such a gift for his devotion.


	2. The Sharp Taste of Salt

Eren went back to the prison every day for two weeks, and every day he waited for hours only to be told that Levi wouldn't see him. Eren was starting to get angry and suspicious. He convinced himself that there was no way Levi would give him a command he wouldn't let the boy obey. 

Walking out of the prison late on the fourteenth day of not being able to see Levi, Eren took out his cellphone and hit the first number on speed dial. 

A shrill voice picked up the phone. "What?"

"Hello, Mommy," Eren said in a cheerful high pitched voice, "There are some people bothering me and I need your help."

"Anything for you pumpkin," the woman's voice softened as soon as she heard who was on the other end of the line, "What can Mommy and Daddy do?" 

"Well..." Eren began with a devilish smile. He would get what he wanted, there was no doubt about that. His parents would never let him down. 

~~~

On the fifteenth day, Eren got to the prison early, leaving his hotel at the ass crack of dawn. He waited for visitations hours and walked through the doors the minute the office was open. 

"Good morning Shirley," Eren said cheerfully, "I'm here to see Levi." 

"I'm sorry," the woman said with a sad smile, "You know it'll be the same today as it is-" She was cut off by the phone that rang beside her.

"Hello," Eren heard her say. A look of shock and confusion crossed her face as she listened to the other end of the phone. "I'm sorry sir, how did you get this numb-..." As the voice continued to talk to her through the phone, the woman paled. "Yes, I understand," she said in a horrified whisper. 

Standing up, she walked out of the side door so that she could stand in front of Eren. "This way Mr. Jaeger," she said, directing with her hand, "You'll be able to see Mr. Ackerman today." 

"Thank you Shirley," Eren said with a smile, the woman flinching at the sound of his voice. She lead him down a series of hallways before she left him in a white room with a metal table. 

Before she left, she said, "They will bring Mr. Ackerman to this room in a short while. Usually prisoners such as him would be behind glass, but you are a special visitor Mr. Jaeger." 

Eren nodded absently, too preoccupied with the thought that he would be able to see his Levi; his Raven. He wore designer jeans with a soft green cotton button up; casual but still stylish. Eren wanted to look good for Levi. He hoped the man would be happy. 

Eren stared anxiously at the door, waiting for it to be opened.

~~~

For the two weeks he received no letters and the guards said nothing about Eren, Levi drew pictures of Nightingales, so many he'd lost count and they covered the walls beside his stone bed. When he wasn't drawing, he was pacing. He could not sleep; he could not eat. His skin crawled with desire. He **needed.** But there was no relief to be had. 

He was lying on the cold concrete floor, staring up at the ceiling, eyes distant and dulled under the fluorescent lights. His body ached as if his flesh would shatter and break and all his darkness would bleed out and his mind was screaming, screaming, screaming. He _**needed.**_

He didn't even flinch when he heard the booted steps in the corridor, didn't care to even glare at the guards that congregated outside his cage to taunt him. But then there was the sound of keys, chains clinking together and he had not heard the sound in so long it seemed. When was the last time? Had he seen the sun again since the first time he’d written Eren; he couldn't recall. 

"Get up Ackerman, you got a visitor. Seems someone high up wants to be your friend," the broad, bald guard said, tapping his baton impatiently against the bars and Levi moved to his feet and to the barred doorway so quickly, the group moved back in fear he was going to attack them.

But he didn't. Instead, he turned his back to them and pressed his wrists against the space between the bars so they could shackle him as they always did. His Nightingale had come and he could not be bothered with his vengeance on his torturers for the moment. There would be time later, but he would not wait any longer to see his songbird. 

They led him out of his cell and to a room he'd never been in previously, but it hardly mattered what the setting; he only had eyes for the boy within the boxed space. He shuffled inside, dressed in prison issued white cotton tank top and grey prison pants with his number printed on the left hip, the dark tips of his tattoo curling over his bared shoulders, the rest of the intricate wings that covered his back to his hips and curved over his neck and shoulders to his chest unseen beneath his clothing. He licked his lips and inhaled deeply. He could smell him. 

He looked at the guard and hissed, "Take them off," he lifted his hands as much as he could and the guard shook his head, "We can't do that, you know that Ackerman."

"Please," he gritted, muscles taut and tensed with coiled tension, but he was ignored as they simply pressed him towards the seat that was meant for him. 

His eyes were glued to Eren as he stepped inside the room fully and he smiled despite his irritation at being refused his freedom, "Nightingale," he breathed in greeting, pushing himself away from the guards to shuffle closer to Eren.

"Raven," Eren cried, eyes filled with tears of joy, as he half rose from his seat, "I've been coming every day for two weeks and waiting for eight hours to see you. But they said you didn't want to see me. I felt like I would die since you didn't want me." 

He reached towards Levi with trembling hands, unsure if he was allowed to touch the man since he hadn't been given the okay.

Levi stilled when Eren reached for him and his breath caught. "Did you not receive my last letter?" he breathed out, disappointed when he did not feel the press of those fingers to his skin. 

"I would never refuse you. I've dreamt of your skin since the first time you wrote to me. I want to touch you. Your photos do not do your beauty justice. If I were without these shackles, I would have you in my arms already. Please, you needn't be afraid. I need to feel you," he said, voice shaking with the heady rush of want. His Nightingale was before him finally, so close. And he was exquisite to behold. The guards made disgusted sounds and turned away from the pair in the room as Levi took another step towards the young man. 

Levi smelled of the tea Eren had sent him since he kept it beneath his pillow and he was grateful that it was strong enough to overlay the scent of cheap soap. But there was also something else, something spicy and dangerous, sanguine and dark like oleander, the natural scent that permeated pale skin, clung like the death he carried on his shoulders.

Eren stood up fully to stand in front of Levi. He took his hands as he shook his head. "I wouldn't go home until I saw you so there's no way I could've gotten your letter," he said with a teary smile, his fingers trailing over the soft pale skin of Levi's hands. Turning to the guards Eren barked, "Unshackle him and leave. We need privacy."

One of the guards growled, "There is no way in hell that is happening." 

"Hmm," Eren hummed with an angry sort of deranged look on his face. He let go of one of Levi's hands to fish his cellphone from his pocket. Before he used speed dial once more, he looked both guards in the eyes and said, "You do not want me to make this phone call. Do as I say or you will suffer the consequences." 

Both guards looked at each other anxiously as Eren started to dial and lift the phone slowly to his ear. 

"Alright alright stop," the guard almost shrieked. Eren smiled sweetly as he ended the call. Walking forward cautiously, the guards unshackled Levi's chains and hurried quickly from the room.

Levi swallowed, a slow languid shiver crawling down his spine as Eren's fingers made contact with his skin and he watched fascinated as the boy barked orders and had the guards scrambling. A smirk of satisfaction curled his lips and his cock stirred. Oh yes, his Nightingale was perfect. 

As soon as he'd been freed and the guards had bolted from the room, he was reaching for the young man, drawing him in against his firm chest, hands groping at his back and tangling in his hair as he pressed his face into Eren's neck and inhaled deeply, groaning gutturally as he filled his lungs with the scent of his soulmate. "You are divine," he murmured against the soft skin beneath Eren's ear, breath stirring against the downy strands of chestnut.

Eren whined as his hands moved to clutch desperately at Levi's toned back. He felt his heart beat erratically and he was bright red, panting loudly in Levi's arms. "Did I do good Raven? Did I please you? I'd do anything for you. That's why I waited so long. I don't think the guards will bother you as much; not with my parents involved," Eren rambled on almost incoherently as he felt Levi's skin, and smelled the man's scent.

"Shh, Nightingale, breathe. You've done marvelously. My heart beats chaos like this, just hearing your sweet voice sets my blood on fire, you please me so," Levi murmured, petting his fingers through the boy's hair soothingly as if it was the most natural gesture. It did not matter that he had never touched Eren before, that they had never met; his songbird belonged in his embrace and Levi would slay the devil himself to keep it that way. 

"I've missed your sweet songs. How did you convince them to let me see you?" he asked, still holding Eren tenderly, fingertips gentle in their caress. His Nightingale was so delicate and he would never hurt him.

Eren took a deep breath to calm his shaking, listening to his Raven’s command. Pulling away only a bit so that he could look into the pale grey eyes that captivated him so, Eren smiled sweetly at the man. "Have you ever heard of the Titan Mafia?" he asked, trailing his hands up and down Levi's spine then settling on the man's hips, thumbing over his prison number.

Levi met the stunning gem like depths of Eren's eyes, winter swirling in his own as the boy spoke. He returned the sweet smile with a charming half smile of his own, his own hands moving to rest on Eren's sides, squeezing gently in response to the touch on his cloth-covered hips and his half hard manhood twitched and became a little harder in the loose confines of his pants. 

"Sounds familiar. Seems you have powerful friends my songbird. I think I should like to meet them someday when I'm free of this cage, when I can keep you always," Levi said in the same low, smoky tone he'd had from the start.

Eren laughed brightly at Levi's words as he pulled the man close once again. "I didn't expect you to want to meet my parents so soon," Eren whispered into Levi’s ear then nosed at the delicate pale skin of the man's neck, "Don't worry, I'm already yours. You don't need to ask their permission."

Levi hummed and tilted his head to allow Eren better access to the pale column of his throat where his tattooed feathers crept around his neck and down his collar. He pulled Eren flush against him, his straining cock pressing against the young man insistently. "Your parents? A powerful family then. A powerful songbird from a powerful bloodline, so fitting to be a raven's bride. I would meet them, but I would need no permission, only yours to have you. Your songs are the only ones I care to hear," he replied quietly, rubbing his hands up and down Eren's sides, groping lightly and creeping just beneath the hem of his shirt to feel the skin he so craved.

"But I don't know when that will be. I've three lifetimes to live in this cage before I will be free unless someone gives me the key. How will I breathe without your breath when you must leave again?"

Eren paused in his exploration of Levi's neck to look up at the cameras in the corners of the ceiling. "I'll have to figure out a way to free The Raven then," Eren said under his breath just loud enough for Levi to hear, but not the others listening in. 

Feeling the hard press of Levi's arousal against him, Eren looked back at Levi, blushing an even brighter red. His Raven _wanted_ him. There was no other choice but to please him. 

Removing his hands from Levi's hips, he started to unbutton the soft cotton of his shirt. Levi had said previously he liked Eren's skin. Eren would show it to him then.

"You would free me? If I were free, I'd keep you for eternity. Give you the prettiest things and all my affections," he whispered, eyes watching Eren with heat in their depths as the boy began unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his lovely skin. His breath caught and he slid his hands over the smooth firmness, shifting so that the cameras would not see the beauty that was only his to behold. 

"Beautiful," he murmured, fingers spread against the soft caramel of his songbird's flesh. He dipped his head to press his lips against the boy's collarbone, soft tongue ghosting along the bone and whispering to his shoulder where his teeth sunk without hesitance. He needed his mark to be on him, to taste Eren's blood like fine wine and know that he was his, to be certain all others would as well.

"Ah," Eren cried out in pain and pleasure as he felt the sharp pierce of Levi's teeth in his skin. Breathing heavily, he said, "If it is possible I will make it happen. I will do anything for you." 

Eren's shirt fell off his shoulders and slipped to the ground, his own arousal on display through the tightness of his jeans. He leaned back, still in Levi's arms to sit down on the metal table and wrap his legs around Levi's waist to pull the man closer. "Levi," he groaned, rolling his hips into the man's erection.

Levi's hands pawed at Eren's hips and sides as he returned the motions, rocking his hips into the boy's, breath escaping between his lips in heated gusts, lapping at the mark his teeth had left and cleaning the broken flesh in almost apology though he was hardly sorry. 

"Such pretty promises. Your devotion... You've no understanding of what you do to me. You're mine Nightingale. Free me, and you can call me yours forever and more," he said huskily, lips against the damp skin of Eren's chest, already sucking more marks onto the tanned flesh as they touched. Levi's movements were languid and slow, savouring every point of contact where Eren's body set his own alight. He wanted him. 

He wanted him **now.**

But they could not go further, not now, not here, where others could see. He wanted to make his songbird sing for him, but no one else could be allowed to hear. He pulled away, licking his lips and rolling his hips against Eren's in deliberately slow and teasing motions, powerful and controlled. 

"I can't have you as I want you here, Eren, my lovely, but if I am free..." He inhaled sharply, eyes half lidded as he exhaled shakily, " **When** I am free, I'll covet you in my bed. I'll have you sing for me there until you lose your voice. I need you as the sea pines after the moon, but here is not the place. Only the softest sheets should have the honour of caressing your skin as my hands, not this hard place where eyes watch undeserving," he spoke in a hoarse, husky tone, strained by arousal and indignation. This place, this cage was keeping him from having his Nightingale in the most profound way and he was angry for it.

Eren whined and squirmed in Levi's arms, trying to touch the man as much as possible. "I don't _care_ if others see me. I want you so bad. I've never been with anyone else. I've only ever wanted **you** ," he said as he slowly palmed over Levi's erection in his grey prison pants. "Five years of wanting you... And you didn't even know I existed," he said, pressing harder with his hand and making Levi's cock twitch.

Levi growled and squeezed the hips in his hold. "You unravel me," he breathed harshly as he rolled his hips into the teasing press of Eren's hand, "Tempting beautiful little Nightingale..."

He abruptly grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled his hand away from his crotch, "No more. You belong to me. Your skin is for my eyes only, you understand? Your songs are only mine to hear. Free me and you'll have me, Eren. Not until then," he said in a low, serious tone, leaving no room for argument. His silver gaze softened though as he looked the panting and flushed boy over and licked his lips again, cock throbbing, but he ignored it, pulling the hand in his grip up to press his lips to the palm. 

"When you leave here, return home and see the gift I sent for you with my last letter. Let it be your consolation until we can meet again. I have another here," he continued against Eren's palm before he pulled back and used his unoccupied hand to retrieve a folded drawing from the waistband of his pants. It was one he favoured, a raven and a nightingale in flight, as pits of inky flame burned beneath them and tendril like clawed hands begged for them, but could not reach.

Eren clamped down on the whimper that threatened to escape his mouth and forced his body to stop squirming. Levi said no more. Eren would have to wait. But to do so, he needed to move away from the man. The proximity was too much for him to bare if he couldn't have Levi like he wanted. 

Unwinding his legs from Levi's waist he pulled his wrist from Levi's grip and took the drawing from the man's hands. He ducked down to pick up his shirt as he forced himself across the room into a corner to view the drawing. He stared at it for several moments as tears spilled from his eyes. 

"It's beautiful," he said in an awed whisper, unable to move his eyes away from the drawing. He lowered his eyes in submission as he said, "I don't deserve it. I'm sorry for disobeying you. I just want you so bad. Please forgive me."

Levi shifted his weight, crossing his arms over his chest and watching his songbird retreat to the far corner to look over his gift. Upon the apology and submissive avoidance of his eyes, Levi smiled gently and moved across the room for him, reaching out a hand to brush along one damp cheek, thumbing tears away. His songbird was ever so lovely, weeping over his devotion and begging his raven's forgiveness. How could Levi refuse such sincerity?

"You're forgiven. I want you as well Nightingale, but I can't stand to have those undeserving eyes watching you. You deserve more than just this picture, but I have no way to give it to you, not caged as I am. But I will. I trust you to find the key. Come, let me taste your lips before you leave me," he soothed, coaxing the boy back to him, just as there was a thumping knock on the door, warning that their time was nearly up as he knew it would be. They'd never let him spend more than this hour with Eren; he was surprised they'd given him this much, though that was likely because his Nightingale had been so clever.

Eren went back to Levi's arms, careful not to crumple the drawing. He looked at the door as the knocks reverberated through the room. Before they could make Levi leave, Eren quickly pressed his lips against Levi's chastely. Eren leaned back a fraction to smile shyly at Levi. "That was my first kiss, Raven."

Levi framed Eren's face with his hands, "My lips should be so lucky to receive it then and your second," he murmured before he drew Eren forward once more to press another lingering and open mouthed kiss to the boy's bowed lips, "And your last when the time comes," he whispered against them. He reluctantly let him go when the door opened and the guards came to collect him.

He did not struggle when they cuffed him again, his gaze on the boy that belonged to him, passing silent wanting in the molten mercury depths. "Until next we meet, sweet Nightingale, I'll be dreaming of thee," he said as the guards roughly tugged him out of the room and back to his cell.

"I'll miss you," Eren called out as his last glimpse of Levi disappeared behind the door. He sighed when he was alone, throwing on his shirt and buttoning it up. There was a red blotch on the shoulder where Levi bit him, but he didn't mind. He had other shirts to wear and now he was marked as Levi's. 

Eren walked out of the prison with a too wide grin on his face, waving at Shirley as he passed and she cowered behind her desk. 

Walking to his car, he pulled out his phone and speed dialled his mom once again. "Hey Mommy, it's Eren again. I have another request..."

~~~

Levi had only an hour or two of peace before Nile came for him. The guard was absolutely livid that someone had gone over his head and allowed the pale killer to see his sweetheart. He taunted Levi about his sick date with his sweetie and threatened that he would never see him again. He and a number of others manhandled him and when Levi was shackled and brought to solitary where there were no cameras to see, Nile bruised his skin. 

How long, he didn't know; it didn't matter. Pain was nothing. It was not the first time it had happened and it would likely not be the last and Levi smiled through his bloodied lip, the white of his teeth lined in crimson menacingly as he sat on the dirty floor of the cell that smelled worse than it even looked. Levi hated solitary, but it didn't matter. He'd seen his songbird and tasted his skin. Eren would find the key to his cage and set him free, he had no doubts and Nile... Nile would get his penance then.

It might have been a week later when they came to release him from solitary, filthy and gaunter than he had been, the poor conditions in the isolation cell leaving him looking much worse than he had previous, but that was fine too. He hated to be dirty, but in his cage, he could do little to combat it. When they came for him, he was expecting to be thrown into the cold shower and back into his cell, not given privacy to bathe with soaps that had labels and certainly he had expected even less to be given clothing that suited him much better. 

He was to be freed this day. His songbird had not failed him. He hummed a soft tune as he combed his now cleaned hair and adjusted the black silk vest he wore over an equally black button up shirt with black form fitting slacks and shiny new dress shoes to match. He grinned at Nile viciously as another guard led him towards the exit where he could practically taste his freedom. "Don't look so upset Nile; I won’t forget you. We'll be seeing each other real soon," he said, raising one unshackled hand in a lazy farewell as he left the doors a free man. 

Once outside, he glanced around, squinting in the sun in search of his Nightingale.

"Levi," Eren squealed, running up to the man like a puppy greeting his master. You could almost see an imaginary tail wagging behind Eren as he approached his love. 

"Can I hug you?" he requested, panting as he stood in front of the man, beaming with ecstasy, "I did well right? I got your sentence overturned. The witnesses recanted and evidence was appealed as inadmissible. You're a free man under the protection of the Titan family now."

Levi smiled and opened his arms to the boy. "You did splendidly my love. I couldn't have asked for better," he replied, pleasure dancing in his eyes. His songbird had freed him and as he'd promised, he had every intention of keeping him at his side.

Eren instantly folded himself in Levi's arms, breathing in the man's fresh scent. His hands ran over the man's body, and Eren leaned back and frowned, "Did you lose weight?" he questioned as a short blonde in a suit came walking up behind him.

 

"Not to worry love, I'm just fine now," the raven murmured against Eren's hair, pressing a kiss there and giving him a squeeze as the blonde, suited man stepped up.

"Mr. Ackerman, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. You are all Eren has talked about since we were young," the blonde said with bright suspicious blue eyes. 

"Levi, this is Armin, my best friend and lawyer to the family. He's a genius. He got your sentences overturned on my request," Eren said while nuzzling into Levi's neck.

Levi offered his left hand to the young lawyer, "You have my gratitude," he replied, shaking Armin's hand briefly before returning his own to Eren's waist.

"I missed my Nightingale so much, even before I knew him. I do have a few questions. As you are probably aware, I had quite a large amount of assets before my untimely capture, I'd like to have them back if you'd mind seeing to it. I should like to take Eren for a bite and perhaps to search out a nest fit for the both of us... Would you like that my love?" He said, looking at the boy in his arms.

"Yes," Eren breathed, eyes glazed over with infatuation as he gazed at Levi. 

A look of apprehension crossed Armin's face before he schooled his features and nodded his head. "I have already taken the liberty as your attorney to acquire your assets and put them in an offshore account that only you can access. All the details are in this folder," Armin said professionally as he handed Levi a brown manila folder. "As for leaving right away, the family is anxious to meet you and discuss the future of your... Relationship with the Titan family as Eren's partner."

Eren pulled back and scowled at Armin. "No. He can talk to my family another day. I have been waiting for this for **forever.** ," he spit, stomping his feet childishly in protest. 

Armin just shrugged, "I'm sorry Eren. I'm acting on Mikasa's orders." 

Sighing, Eren gave Levi a kiss on the cheek before he walked a few steps to the side to make a call.

Armin was left in the company of the killer and he scrutinized the man up and down, his blue eyes calculating.

Levi tucked the folder he'd skimmed over as soon as Eren had stepped away beneath his arm, completely satisfied with the numbers he had seen. His works must be selling even better than they had before his arrest.

He looked at Armin, meeting his scrutinizing gaze with the unwavering and amused winter mercury of his own, a small curl to his lips. "Does it frighten you?" He asked quietly, cocking a hip and inclining his head curiously as he watched the blonde watching him.

"I'm not sure," Armin said honestly, "I was just wondering about my moral obligations to society for helping a serial killer run free." He crossed his arms and looked over to Eren who was whispering angrily into the phone as he waved his arms around. 

Levi chuckled, "You needn’t be so wary. Serial killer is such a harsh title. I'm no more a monster than the man I strangled and strung up over the stained glassed windows of his church. He used to touch his sons you know? Cute little things too, pretty, like little dolls with eyes hollower than porcelain. He left them hollow you see, once he'd devoured everything within. He devoured them and The Raven came for him. I am no monster at all; I am a cleanser. The Raven is the one that cleans this earth of waste; that's all it is. It's only natural. Nature is both savage and beautiful, is it not? There are no moral obligations there," he murmured conversationally as his gaze followed Armin's to the boy still on the phone, and stayed avidly captivated while he crossed his arms unconsciously.

 

Armin, with his eyes still on Eren, admitted, "I haven't seen him so... Vibrant and alive in years. His obsession with you ate away at him." Turning back to Levi, he said, "You better take care of him... He's the darling of the entire Titan organization and one of the heirs. If anything happens to him, _you will suffer_."

"I'd never harm him, but heaven help those that think to," the raven said in a deadly tone, his silver gaze still on his Nightingale. The blonde frowned, mouth dry in response to the raven haired murderer’s words. Levi Ackerman was a dangerous man, more dangerous than any others Armin, whom was a lawyer for a crime syndicate, had met previous.

Eren hung up the phone and walked back to Levi and Armin with a bright smile on his face. "Everything is fine now. We don't have to go see my family anymore," Eren said cheerfully. "So I'm gonna take Levi, and you can go do whatever you want, Armin."

Armin nodded slowly, looking from Levi to Eren, then sighing. "I'll see you later, Eren. Don't make Mikasa wait too long. She can't say no to you, but I'm the one who gets the backlash," he said before he turned away, lifting a hand in goodbye.

 

The raven's smile grew as Eren approached, pleased when he came right back to his side without being prompted. Eren was learning his place and it was endearing.

When Armin bid them farewell, Levi only smirked at him and inclined his head as if he knew exactly the kind of thoughts the blonde lawyer was having about him.

Eren rolled his eyes in response to the blonde’s words, but waved back, then made his way to his car, his Raven in tow.


	3. The Gift of Innocence

"Do you want to drive? I don't care either way," Eren said as he clicked the button to unlock the shiny black sports car and twirled the keys on a finger as he waited for Levi's response.

Levi didn't reply verbally to Eren's offer, but held out a pale hand expectantly, watching the young man sidelong from beneath a thick fringe of dark lashes.

Eren handed him the keys without hesitation, then skipped around the car to jump in the passenger seat. The inside was immaculate and shiney, smelling fresh and clean. Eren knew that Levi liked things to be spotless so he’d gotten his car detailed before coming to pick Levi up.

He watched as Levi got into the driver’s seat, his smile affectionate and warm seeing Levi as a free man. "Where do you want to go, my Raven?" he asked as Levi turned the engine over and smirked as the car roared to life.

Levi adjusted his seat and palmed the steering wheel for several seconds as the car purred and a slow devilish smirk curled his lips. There was nothing quite like power; such a heady rush. He placed a hand on the gearshift and his feet on the pedals, looking over to Eren a moment before he shifted into drive and peeled out of the lot. 

"Wherever you'd like my Nightingale. I want to treat you and then we'll find a place that suits us, something fit for you. You don't mind moving do you?" he replied, his eyes on the road though he was listening intently.

"I go wherever you go," Eren said, holding on as Levi sped down the road. It was like an adrenaline rush, flying free with his Raven. He couldn't help himself, giddy with happiness as he bounced in his seat. "I want to know everything about you; your favourite food and favourite places. The things I couldn't find out without asking directly. I've researched you all I can though." 

Eren looked out the window at the shining sun, smile almost hurting his face as it stretched on his cheek. "My city is a few hours away. We won't be able to get our permanent home for a while. We could go to a different city that's just forty five minutes down this highway. Do you want to go to a really fancy hotel or something? My family owns a few so we can get a really nice suite and room service."

"Where do you want to live my love? I've enough to make it happen tonight, unless you'd rather stay somewhere like that; we're newlyweds after all," the pale man replied, leaning back casually in his seat and glancing at Eren while he drove.

"I want to live where you want to live," Eren said with a concerned frown, unable to answer Levi's question. "I really haven't thought about it... I've been just trying to please you... So when you ask what I want, I have no idea," Eren explained, waving his arms around wildly and feeling like he was inadequate in his explanation.

Levi chuckled and took his hand from the shift to run his knuckles over Eren's cheek, "You've been doing a fine job. Do you like the ocean? I used to live by the ocean. It was lovely there," he said, looking at Eren before he looked back to the road and dropped his hand back to the shift.

He took a turn off to the city Eren had mentioned; forty five minutes wasn't long at all. He wouldn't mind just listening to his songbird.

Eren's eyes widened and jaw dropped as he looked at Levi in shock. "How did you know that I loved the ocean? I would love to live there," Eren said, starting to bounce and giggle in his seat once again. "I've always loved the ocean, ever since I was little, although I'm a horrible swimmer. The ocean is the only thing in my life that I love almost as much as you."

"Is that so? Then that's where we'll live. We'll book a flight. We'll stay in the city a few days and speak with your family before we go, how does that sound? I need to tie up a few loose ends here anyway. If you like, you can help me with my unfinished work," the raven offered, shifting his hand to squeeze Eren's upper thigh affectionately.

"You... You'd let me help?" Eren questioned, shocked once again. He clutched his chest, looking at Levi like he was a God and to Eren, he was. "Are you serious? I don't want to fuck it up though. Your work is like your drawings; absolute masterpieces."

"I'll teach you," the pale man said, glancing over at Eren with a charming smile, obviously flattered by Eren's comments and preening under his praise. "Would you like that Nightingale?"

"Yes- yes of course I would!" Eren gasped almost too loudly for the small interior of the car. He leant forward, rocking in his seat and choking back tears. "You don't- you don't understand," he cried, "I've been watching your work for so long... And now not only will you let me watch... You'll let me help... I think I might die of happiness," Eren babbled as he cried even harder though the tears were that of immense joy. He couldn't keep them in even though he tried. In the back of his mind, he chastised himself for always crying in front of Levi.

Levi pulled over onto the side of the highway and turned in his seat to cup Eren's face in his hands, fascinated by the beauty of his songbird's tears and the intense heat that spread through his blood knowing that they were because Eren admired him so much and appreciated his work so sincerely. 

He thumbed at the salty tears on the boy's cheeks and stared into the glimmering emerald eyes, "You're lovely when you cry Nightingale. So lovely. You make me want to give you everything. I love the way you look at me."

"I- I can't help it. Y-you're g-g-giving me everything I've ever wanted and m-more," Eren stuttered through his tears as he nuzzled into Levi's hands. "I'd never even dreamed of being in your arms like this and yet here I am. And now you say you'll let me help you with your work..." Eren cried harder, unable to reign in his emotions. "You're so amazing. How did I end up so lucky?"

"I ask myself the same when I think about you Nightingale. No one has ever seen me the way you do. No one understands the importance of my work the way you do. That's why I want to share it with you. How did I manage to ensnare such a lovely songbird such as you? How did you know I needed you?" Levi replied, tilting his head and watching Eren warmly before he was leaning forward as he drew Eren in and pressed his lips to the young man's and lapped the salt from them.

Eren kissed Levi back hard; trying to pour all his emotion into the press of his lips. He'd never kissed anyone this way, so he probably was messy and used too much teeth, but he couldn't help himself; Levi tasted so good. 

Eren was practically crawling into Levi's lap by the time the man managed to break the kiss.

Levi hummed his approval in his throat as Eren kissed him back fervently. His Nightingale was so eager. He pet Eren's hair soothingly and guided the boy's movements to slow down. The tip of his tongue tickled the corner of Eren's lips before he broke away, stroking one hand along the side of Eren's neck and resting their foreheads together, "Let's find that hotel, love. Everything else can wait. You obviously cannot." 

He gave Eren a Cheshire grin before he nipped at the boy's lips one more time and pulled back to settle in his seat. He pulled Eren to lean against his side, ignoring the traffic indiscretion and keeping Eren close to him possessively.

Eren stayed glued to Levi the entire drive to the hotel, petting the man affectionately and trailing his hands up and down his chest as he nosed into his neck. The man never pushed him away no matter how much Eren touched him. Other than driving a little more recklessly, he didn't seem to be fazed by being fawned over by Eren

When they got to the hotel, the most expensive in the entire city, Eren almost ran into the lobby. Panting, he said to the employee at the front desk, “We need your honeymoon suite please.” Eren fidgeted impatiently, slipping his black credit card forward. Levi came up behind him and rubbed Eren's back as they waited for their key. “That's what we want right?” Eren asked, looking back at Levi, worried that he’d rushed without checking with his Raven first. 

Levi cocked a little smirk at the excited boy and nodded. "Of course, my sweet, you're not wrong," he said, pressing a kiss to Eren's temple and smoothing his palm up and down Eren's spine. 

Levi took the key from the concierge when it was offered and turned, leading Eren to the elevator to get to their floor. He tucked Eren against his side possessively and ignored the other hotel visitors that rode in the box with them, glaring at anyone who looked too long in their direction. 

It was empty by the time they reached their floor and Levi was grateful, "Are you ready Nightingale?" he murmured as the doors to the elevator slowly drew open and they stepped into the hall.

"Yes," Eren breathed as he speed walked down the hall and pulled Levi along with him. Getting to the hotel door, Eren froze up as Levi used the key to open the door, finally realizing the situation when he thought passed his eager arousal. Fidgeting and playing with his shirt, he said, "I'm sorry. I might not be very good. I want to please you, but... I'm a virgin." He looked down as he tugged on his hem and blushed brightly, hoping Levi wouldn't be angry.

Levi wet his lips, watching his songbird fidgeting nervously and he felt that heat curling in his gut again, his member stirring as Eren blushed before him. He reached for him, sliding his hands over his waist to massage at the base of his spine appreciatively. "Don't apologize for that. It's precious. You don't know what it does to me to know that you are only mine to have, that all things yours belong to me," he murmured as he nosed behind Eren's ear, pressing his lips against soft flesh as he spoke.

"I don't know," Eren said nervously although he gave Levi more access to his neck with a tilt of his head, "Being inexperienced means I don't know how to please you..." He pulled Levi into the room and avoided his gaze, "I have had many fantasies about you over the years. You're the only person I've ever masturbated to even..." He looked up at Levi through his lashes, "I know it's weird..."

"Why would it be strange? I like that it's only I for you. I like that you saved yourself just for me. No one's given me such sweet gifts before. I've never met anyone else like you, my pretty Nightingale. Don't you know, you're the only I've ever loved?" Levi's fingers were inching their way beneath the hem of Eren's shirt, teasing along the dimples of his lower back and he nipped and sucked on the soft patch of skin beneath the boy's ear. "You don't need to be nervous; there's no way you could displease me in this."

Eren looked at Levi, wide eyed. "You're serious? You love me?" He threw himself forward to embrace Levi tightly. "I love you too. I've always loved you. I don't think it's possible for me to love anyone else." He held on for a few moments, squeezing his feelings into the man before he pulled back with a horrified look on his face. "What if I'm really bad at sex and you stop loving me…?" he whispered, petrified by the thought.

Levi shook his head, "I've been told I'm incapable of love, but if that's so then you are the closest I'll ever be and there's nothing that could make me give that up. Ravens mate for life. As for sex... I'll teach you that too; I'll take care of you," the raven said, sliding his hands further beneath Eren's shirt, spreading his fingers over either side of Eren's ribcage, palms smooth along his soft sides as he drew him flush against his body. 

He kissed the boy's collarbone and up the side of his neck, dragging his tongue over his pulse deliberately and pausing to suck a mark into the soft flesh. "I want to feel your skin on mine. I want to see all of you, consume you and be consumed. I want your everything. I'll be your Raven and you'll be my Nightingale, my Annabel Lee with eyes as vibrant as the sea and you’ll only sing for me. You'll give me forever, won't you?"

"Nghh," moaned Eren as Levi sucked on his neck. His own hands gripped onto the back of Levi's vest and shirt, wanting to tear them off the man's body. "Of course I'll give you forever. You can have anything you want from me; everything that I am is yours and yours alone."

Levi growled gutturally and pulled back from Eren's neck to stare deeply into the emerald depths, his own dark with possession and desire, "You'll drive me mad with words like those my love," he whispered huskily, squeezing his hands on Eren's hips, his breaths coming more laboured as his member stiffened within his slacks. 

"Shall we have a shower love or would you rather not?" he asked, thumbing at the protrusion of sharp hip bones beneath smooth skin and licked his lips again.

Eren looked up at the fancy room, eyeing the plush king-sized bed, then turned his head towards the bathroom, weighing his options. "I should be clean for my Raven," he finally said, nerves coming back slightly. "I want to be soft and smell good for you. I know you like things clean," Eren said with a smile.

Levi looked endeared by the sentiment, his snowy silver eyes warm with delight and dilated with passion. He caught one of the boy's hands in his own and drew it to his lips to kiss the palm before he was leading the way to the large, tiled and immaculately clean bathroom, equipped with squared glass walled shower large enough for two. 

He let go of Eren's hand and stepped back to look at him. "Strip for me NIghtingale. Show me the secrets of your skin," he ordered in a silky low tone, resting his hands back on the sink in preparation for the show he knew Eren would deliver. It was bound to be exquisite.

"O-okay, my Raven," Eren said with a shaking voice as he reached down to pull his shirt over his head to reveal the unblemished tan and toned skin of his torso. Eren had a slighter frame, but obviously he worked out given the round bulge of muscles under his skin. 

Eren's blush had reached his ears and went down his neck at that point. He'd never been naked in front of someone before. It was much easier to take naked pictures by himself and send them to Levi then have the man's piercing grey eyes on him in person. 

Reaching down, he tried to unbutton his jeans with trembling fingers. He fumbled the task for a moment before he forced himself to calm down and do it properly. He pushed the pants down and stepped out of them to reveal white cotton boxer briefs that hugged the swell of Eren's round ass perfectly. 

Looking up at Levi, he tried to be cheeky by saying, "Do you want these off too, my Raven?" He hooked his thumbs in the band of his underwear and pushed it down dangerously, but not low enough to show anything. He smiled crookedly at Levi, trying to tease the man a bit, as he awaited an answer.

Levi tilted his head, the sharp glint of white teeth flashing between his pale pink lips in response to his songbird's teasing. "Oh Nightingale, you should not taunt me so. I've starved for you so long already," he murmured huskily, his gaze crawling over all the exposed skin painted over toned musculature that was fine like artwork and yet left unfinished without his signature. "Show me."

Eren visibly swallowed. In one fell swoop, before he could chicken out, he pushed down his underwear to his knees and stepped out of it; throwing it in the pile with the rest of his clothes. There he stood, completely bare for his Raven, trying his best not to fidget or cover himself. He turned his head away, not wanting to see disgust or disappointment in Levi's gaze. 

 

Levi's breath stilled in his chest as Eren finally stood bare before him in all his stunning beauty. His fingers twitched, aching to touch the honeyed skin flushed so prettily beneath his silver scrutiny.

"Don't look away my love. There is no shame to be had in beauty," he said when he could breathe again and his voice did not forsake him for silent reverie.

"I-It's not fair that I'm naked and you're not..." Eren said, crossing his arms with a huff. He stole a quick glance towards Levi, then said, "I want to see you too."

Levi smiled wicked and seductive when Eren voiced the desire to see his skin in return. He could refuse him and make him beg, but he could not be so callous when the boy had laid before him his desires so sincerely.

"Undress me then my Nightingale."

"O-Okay," Eren said, only hesitating a moment before he padded to stand in front of Levi. He trailed his trembling hands lightly and almost reverently down Levi's chest to start unbuttoning his black silk vest and then his black button up shirt to reveal the pale skin that captivated him so. 

Eren made a small sound of awe before he smoothed his hands over Levi's bared chest, revelling in touching his Raven. He didn't even notice how hard he had become, just seeing and touching Levi's skin.

Levi shifted to allow Eren to remove his shirt completely, letting both shirt and vest slip off his shoulders and down his arms to pool at his feet. The thick smoky plumes of his wings reflected in the mirror at his back as he felt the boy's eyes on him and his shaking fingers so hesitant and sweet upon his skin. And he basked in his Nightingale's reverence.

He reached to caress the soft skin of a subtly curved waist and hummed his approval huskily. "And the rest. Don't be shy my love. My body burns for thee," he coaxed breathily.

"And you said I was the impatient one," Eren said with a laugh as he ran his hands teasingly over the rim of Levi's slacks. Almost achingly slow, Eren unbuttoned the pants and fly and pulled Levi's pants down to reveal black silk boxers filled with a straining erection. 

Eren licked his lips as he stared, rock hard himself as he took his hand to palm the man through his underwear. "So big," Eren whispered, as he leant forward to rest his head on Levi's chest, still stroking the man through his underwear. "This is going to be inside of me," Eren said with awe.

"You flatter me," the raven murmured lowly, rolling his hips into the young man's palm with deliberate slow motions. " **I'm** going to be inside of you, my love. We'll be one." 

He shifted forward to allow the silken undergarments to be removed entirely, muscled thighs twitching impatiently as the material slipped over skin ticklishly and his manhood sprung free, pale like the rest of him and blushing a deep rose with arousal. 

"Mmn," he groaned quietly, drawing Eren in against him, breath hitching when their hips collided and weeping erections ached with the kiss of contact. "Come Nightingale, let's get clean," he prompted as he pulled Eren with him towards the glass encased shower, walking backwards without looking and keeping as much contact between them as possible, burning with the electric heat of Eren's flesh on his own.

"Yes Raven," Eren agreed, trailing open mouthed kisses along his neck and shoulder, tasting the man's skin as they moved. Levi pulled him into the shower and used one hand to turn the water on. It was cold at first, but swiftly grew to pleasantly hot as they touched each other under the stream. 

Eren watched as Levi's skin became wet, beads of water falling down the man's body. He was almost mesmerized by the sight. "You're so beautiful," Eren said before he captured Levi's mouth with his and began devouring his Raven's lips.

Levi let the soap he'd been using to cleanse them both fall from his fingers as he groaned into the kiss and pressed Eren back against the steamy glass of the shower wall, running his hands down the boy's slick sides to grope at his hips instead. He pressed his mouth against Eren's with as much intensity as he received. He tasted so good and it was like seeing the sun after a starless night, blinding and hot. It was like absolution on the tongue and the raven could not get enough.

His lust crawled beneath his skin, clawing desperately to the surface and making itself known in his fingertips, lips, tongue and teeth, burning in the slivered mercury depths of his eyes and throbbing between his thighs as he rolled his hips against Eren's. One pale hand fisted in soaked and tangled chestnut strands while the other groped at the underside of a slick golden thigh, prompting the boy to wrap it around his waist, so that he could palm at the fleshy cheek of Eren's ass instead.

"Mm," Eren hummed into Levi's mouth as the man groped his ass. He rocked his hips into Levi's as they writhed together, skin slippery with water and soap. Reaching between them, Eren gently grasped both of their cocks, stroking them together. He broke their kiss and cried out in pleasure, "O-Oh... S'good... Feels so good... Levi... Haah... I'm not going to last much longer." It was true. The familiar heat within his stomach was rising to the point where it would push him over the edge. All Eren could think about was how much he loved Levi and how he'd been dreaming about this moment for years. He was completely overwhelmed.

The raven growled his pleasure breathily and bit harshly at Eren's collar before soothing his tongue over yet another fresh mark, using his grip on Eren's hair to guide his head to the side so that he could mouth at his throat. He rutted into the boy's grip, breath becoming more laboured by the moment.

He nipped at Eren's ear lobe, "S'good Nightingale. We'll finish together," he murmured gutturally as his hand slid up and down Eren's thigh before teasing down the crack of his ass, fingertips just barely brushing over the little puckered entrance between. He was hardly concerned that they had not gotten further yet. They had eternity after all. There was no rush and it had been so long since he'd last been touched so intimately. He wanted to see and feel his songbird as he'd been in his photos.

He rocked his hips rhythmically and bit behind Eren's ear before he was seeking out his mouth once again as the coiling of heat in his gut tightened further and began to break, sending flares of electric nirvana through his nerves. His cock jerked against Eren's and spilled thick rivulets of pearly release between the press of their bodies and over the brunette's stroking hand and Levi shuddered, muscles taut and twitching as his breath hitched, and he stared with half lidded blown eyes directly into Eren's, wanting to watch the glimmering depths while they came together.

Eren released Levi's cock to grab his own and started to pump it viciously up and down, sprinting towards his own release. He leaned back his head on the glass with closed eyes and bit his lip hard as he raced closer to orgasm. Finally, he burst, shooting his seed all over his torso and some even hit the bottom of his chin.

Panting hard, he opened his eyes to gaze deeply into the grey eyes of his beloved. Eren loved Levi more than anything and he would never try to hide it. He was Levi's for all of **eternity** The thought of that made Eren smile radiantly, shining brighter than the sun.

Levi licked his lips, a slow smirk spreading in the wake of his tongue as he looked over the panting boy, pulling back away from him to run his gaze over him fully. His fingers turned gentle in Eren's hair and he brushed the sopping strands away from the boy's forehead before cupping his cheek, thumbing away the milky fluid from the brunette's chin and ever so slowly bringing it to his own mouth to taste. He lapped it off the pad of his thumb and hummed his approval before returning his hand to Eren's jaw, molten mercury trained on the breathtakingly bright smile and even brighter eyes.

"Beautiful... Absolutely beautiful," he breathed huskily before the steady rush of water began to wash away their mess. He leaned back in to brush his lips against the corner of Eren's. "I can't wait to be one with you Nightingale, to feel you unravel from within. I'll make such an exquisite mess of you," he murmured against the soft flesh, palming at Eren's hips appreciatively.

Eren's chest was still rising and falling quite quickly as he returned the kiss. "I'm already a mess, my Raven," he said breathily as he reached up to twirl a dark wet lock of Levi's hair around his finger. "You don't know what you do to me."

“Tell me," Levi whispered as he pet Eren's slick sides, watching him intently. "Do I make you weak? Do you shiver thinking about my voice in your ear? Do I set you aflame? Do I steal your breath? Will you suffocate without me?" His voice was silky and seductively low, his own words making his body hum with simmering lust. He was hardly sated even after what they'd done.

Eren visibly shivered as his eyes closed while he drank in the sound of Levi's voice. "Yes," he breathed, his hands running up and down Levi's spine, "You drive me wild with pleasure. I think I might lose my mind every time you touch me. I drown in sorrow whenever we are apart my love... I **need** you."

Turning around in Levi's hold, he pressed himself to the glass and rubbed his ass over Levi's cock. "I **need** you to be inside of me," he said as he continued to grind his ass on Levi.

A rumbling purr of arousal sounded from the raven's chest as Eren spoke and Levi pressed him further against the glass, rubbing intently back against the press of the boy's ass on his renewed erection and pressing his mouth to the back of Eren's neck. "I need you too NIghtingale. You bring me to life as surely as death does. Mm, but I want you somewhere soft. I don't want to hurt you and here is nice enough for another time, but not your first," he murmured against the wet skin and pressed kisses to the boy's nape, massaging at his hips and sides tenderly with pale hands.


	4. Sing Sweet Nightingale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> We know it's been a long time coming and we can't make any promises for future updates to this or any other fics because unfortunately teapotscandal is indeed still ill so writing is a slow process for us, which is also why the chapter is short, but nonetheless, we wanted to give you all something! It's entirely smut for this chapter as a forewarning. So enjoy!
> 
> And of course thank you for your continued patience and support! Comments and kudos are welcome and encouraged as always!
> 
> XanderB's inspo music for this particular scene: [ Closer by Nine Inch Nails](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFwQP86BRs)  
> [Ava Adore by The Smashing Pumpkins](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWwvQKGjLI)
> 
>  
> 
> *Trigger Warning:* Mild erotic asphyxiation and what could be considered somewhat morbid content.

Eren whined and arched his back under Levi's caress. He looked over his shoulder at Levi, his pupils black with desire and cheeks rosy red. “Am I clean enough? Your Nightengale is desperate for you, my Raven,” he panted, running his fingers down his chest leaving a bright red trail across his tan torso. “I want to be yours completely, in body and in soul, I need to be owned by you,” Eren said as his body began to tremble.

Levi hummed and slid one hand up Eren's spine, hazy silver following the movement as he rolled his hips against the press of the other male's ass. "Mm you're perfect Nightingale, beautiful like a fresh canvas," he breathed, running his tongue along the top row of his teeth in a predatory motion before he was tugging the younger man upright, hands possessive as he moved him. "Come, no more waiting. It's time to mark you as mine Nightingale. I'll make you a masterpiece," he murmured gutturally, guiding Eren from the enclosed shower and not bothering to dry either of them as he lead his songbird into the opulent bedroom and laid him back onto the plush duvet, gaze running over the water slicked caramel of Eren's skin appreciatively.

Eren covered his bright red face as he felt Levi's eyes devour his body from above. He locked his legs together and squirmed on top of the Egyptian cotton sheets as his painfully hard cock twitched in arousal. "I... I don't really know what to do," he said, his voice muffled by his hands, still hiding his face.

An endeared smile curled on the raven's mouth and he leaned in to caress his left hand along a bare smooth thigh. "You don't need to do anything Nightingale. I'll take care of you and I'll teach you, just as I said," he breathed huskily, pale fingertips ticklish as they moved along Eren's skin. He slipped onto the bed, knees pressing into the plush mattress, his other hand reaching to brush along the brunette's arm softly, coaxing, "Come now, don't hide from me Nightingale." He shifted, hovering over Eren, leaning forward to press tender kisses along his leg, starting at his knee and trailing down his thigh towards his hip, mercury gaze locked on his songbird's hidden face, waiting patiently for Eren to obey his command.

Eren whined again, the sound filled with desperation, before he slowly revealed his face to his beloved. His green gaze was almost glowing in intensity when he finally met Levi's, seeing the lust swirling in the depths of the Raven's eyes. It made Eren squirm even more, pressing his knees together as tightly as possible.

Eren reached down and grasped the duvet to resist the urge to hide his face again. "You're so perfect," Eren panted, his eyes now glued to Levi, "You must have been with a lot of people..." An almost deranged look crossed Eren's face as intense jealousy clouded his thoughts.

A satisfied little smirk curled the corner of pale lips as Levi leaned back a bit, humming to himself. He tilted his head to the side, the gesture birdlike as he watched the other male squirm and he preened in response to the obvious desire, the praise and the jealousy he could see and hear in Eren. "Not so many dearest. There are so few I find worthy... And none have been so captivating as you. You'll be my last Nightingale," he assured in a smoky sultry tone, moving on the bed, crawling up, one hand swiftly snatching a provided bottle of lavender massage oil from the nightstand closest to him and tucking it aside him. He leaned over Eren, holding himself aloft with one hand while the fingertips of his other brushed along the brunette's jaw, dark mercury lit with desire and glittering beneath half lidded lashes as he looked down at him. "Are you angry others have touched me my love? Do you want a claim no others have had?"

"I-I..." Eren stuttered, his face scrunching as he tried to pinpoint his feelings on the matter. "I'm not... Angry per say... If you desire something or someone, I will do everything in my power to make sure you get what you want..." Eren explained, fierce determination in his voice and in his eyes. "But... The thought of anyone touching you makes me want to cut open the offenders stomach and rip out their internal organs while they watch," Eren added with a crooked smile at the thought.

He shook his head a little to leave his fantasy behind and his eyes widened at Levi's suggestion. "I'm not sure I'm worthy to claim you at all, my Raven... Which is why I'm offering you my body and my soul to do with as you please." Eren let go of the duvet and lifted it to trail his fingers over Levi's cheek, completely infatuated with the man above him.

Levi pressed into the tentative touch, taking in the adoration, basking in his songbird's devotion. "So perfect you are Nightingale. How could I desire any other now that I've found you? There's no other that could play the role of soulmate for me. Any others I've had were poor substitutes," he said as his hands drifted to Eren's legs and coaxed them apart with gentle firmness, maneuvering his body languidly to lay himself between them, the heat of his arousal flaring intently as his erection rubbed against a matching hardness.

"Oh!" Eren moaned in reply, his eyes slightly rolling back in his head as he felt Levi's length against his own. His hips rolled a little against Levi's as he managed to open his eyes once again. "So... I won't have to share you then? You want to be mine?" he asked tentatively, wanting to make sure he understood Levi completely. Eren's hands immediately started rubbing and exploring the toned muscle of Levi's back, tracing Levi's wings without realizing.

The older man hummed lowly, the sound appreciative in response to both the rolling of Eren's hips against his own and the massaging caress of exploratory fingers. His own hands ghosted over Eren's thighs to his hips and up along his sides as Levi leaned up to brush his lips over the brunette's. "Of course Nightingale. Didn't I say ravens mate for life? One mate for eternity and that's you. Souls are a funny thing aren't they? I never knew you existed for me Eren, but now that I do, nothing will keep me from you. Our souls are a matching set Nightingale. You feel it don't you?" he murmured between kisses that began at the other male's lips and mapped a path along Eren's jaw to his ear and down his throat. He nipped over Eren's pulse as he ground his hips down while his hands groped Eren's and drew them against his own. "I didn't know I was waiting for you Eren. You were born to be mine and I yours."

Levi's tongue and teeth laved attention over the soft, damp flesh along Eren's neck, sucking marks into the skin, branding him as the older man continued to move against him in languid motions, methodical and firm, breaths hot and becoming harsher as his desire simmered and spread under his skin, excited to finally claim his songbird as he'd been dreaming for months now. One hand released the grip he had on Eren's hip and sought out the little bottle of oil blindly, popping the cap open and allowing some of the warmed liquid to pool in his palm before he snapped it closed once again, letting it fall back onto the bedding next to them.

He kissed and bit, sucked and lapped at Eren's neck, to his collarbones, along his chest to the other side to mark the unmarred column of the young man's neck the same as he had the other and shifted the grip of his other hand to coax Eren's thigh up, slipping his oiled hand between the press of their lower bodies to drizzle the excess slick liquid along the crack of Eren's backside, slippery fingers chasing the rivulets and teasingly dipping between the plump cheeks.

“Mmmn… hah,” Eren moaned as Levi explored the sensitive area. His fingers dug into Levi's shoulder blades, the pressure demanding more silently. “It feels so good… your touch is like fire,” Eren gasped and his back arched beneath Levi, trembling in pleasure. Reaching down, Eren gripped Levi's hips and pulled so that their cocks rubbed together roughly, making his breath hitch.

Levi hummed lowly, the sound vibrating in his chest as he rolled his hips into the pleasureable pressure of Eren's erection against his own and pressed a fingertip inside the oiled entrance, hissing quietly in response to the tightness as his songbird's body greedily sucked the digit inside. "Mm, it's you that's ignited the flames Nightingale. I'm happy to burn with you," he murmured gutturally as he pressed his finger in further, spreading the slick oil along the smooth inner walls of the younger man's body, pulling it out and pushing back in again with more force, beginning to fuck Eren with his finger, adding another as the little hole loosened.

He nipped and sucked at Eren's pulse as he added a third finger, still rutting his hips against the brunette's to distract him from any discomfort there might be in response to the three fingers he was thrusting in and out of him, spreading the digits and stretching him tenderly. He didn't want to hurt his songbird. Pressing the digits in as far as possible and wiggling them in search of Eren's prostate for future reference, his other hand sought out the bottle of oil again and he trailed his mouth back to Eren's, panting breaths mingling, "I want you Nightingale... Are you ready?"

“Ah… hah… Levi!” Eren moaned as his Raven explored his insides. He stared up at Levi with bright glassy eyes full of unshed tears. “Please take me…” he panted with rosy red cheeks. “I'm yours… was always yours… You are my God and my life is in your hands… I need to be used by you… I'm worthless without you…” Eren rambled incoherently, wiggling under Levi's body with anticipation.

Suddenly, Levi's fingers brushed something inside of Eren that made him cry out and arch his back off the bed. “Oh God! Please… hah...Tear me open and fuck me until I die!” Eren begged, unable to hold back.

Levi growled, the feral sound a deep rumble in his chest as he pulled his fingers out from inside the writhing brunette abruptly, unable to resist the increasingly urgent desire to give Eren exactly what he was begging for. His hand moved in a swift blur as he coated his cock with more of the oil and tossed the bottle to the end of the bed carelessly before he was hovering over Eren once more.

One hand steadied and guided his cock to Eren's still tight hole, rubbing the head against the twitching ring teasingly, spreading oil and precum while his other hand slid up Eren's body, ghosting a trail from his smooth belly up over his ribs and chest to rest with firm pressure at the base of his throat, thumb rubbing affectionately along his collarbone. He tightened the grip on Eren's vulnerable throat ever so tenderly as he shifted his hips forward, slow to start and then slammed in abruptly when he felt the resistance give, desperately devouring Eren's mouth while his other hand groped at a shapely golden thigh.

Pain and pleasure coursed through Eren's body as Levi tore into him. His cries were muffled by Levi's mouth as he continued to rock into Eren's tight and hot entrance. He could feel the tender pressure applied to his airway; Levi held Eren's life in his hand and it drove Eren wild with satisfaction. Breathing harshly through his nose as spots began to dance across his eyes, Eren began to roll his hips in time with Levi's thrusts, causing a slapping sound as their bodies collided.

Levi panted harshly, biting at Eren's lips and licking inside his mouth, trading breaths, stealing air from one another while he thrust methodically, driving into each roll of Eren's hips back against his own. The power and control he had over his songbird, the possession so potent, he was surely burning. He could crush the fragile bones in the other male's throat, suffocate him, take the light from those beautiful eyes and Eren would gladly let him...

Such a gift, such a precious, perfect songbird... How had he gotten so lucky? He wouldn't hurt him, would never take that light... When the raven came for his Nightingale, they would go together surely because how could one live without the other half of their soul?

He pulled away from Eren's lips enough to speak, voice low, guttural and harsh, breathy and desperate, "Beautiful Nightingale... Sing for me," he commanded, loosening his grip on the other male's throat enough to allow Eren to draw in more breath, palming along the flesh appreciatively, pleased with his mate's trust in him, in his utter devotion.

"Ah!" Eren gasped as oxygen flooded his lungs sending a shock of adrenaline through his body. "Levi, Raven, Raven, Levi, Levi, Levi," Eren chanted with every thrust like a prayer as his eyes rolled back in his head. "Please... I love you... split me open..." he cried as he lifted his legs to wrap around Levi's hips changing the angle so that his Raven was now hitting his prostate. "Feels... s-good... Fuck y-yes, yes, yes..." Eren howled, "Ah! Ah! Ah! Yes, fuck! Yes!"

Inside of him, fire was burning in his belly, bringing him close to completion. "I'm close... Yes... Ah! can I? Please love, I need it!" he begged, knowing that he couldn't cum without permission.

“Hmn, that's it pretty. Your begging is so sweet, like your taste... Squeezing me so tightly. Come undone Nightingale, burn for me," the raven breathed heatedly, sucking marks beneath Eren's ear and along his throat where there were already some light bruises from his fingers, claims, proof... And he growled again as he sank his teeth into the soft, sweat damp skin where Eren's neck met his shoulder, hard enough to break skin, enough to taste bittersweet copper and leave a mark that would be deep enough to remain, to scar, to brand. His signature on a masterpiece...

The searing heat in his own gut flared and spread like fire, lightning, static, fast and almost painfully electric beneath his skin as his hips stuttered, that taste of Eren's blood in his mouth and the feel of him, the sound, the possession so heady that he was consumed by it. His thrusts became erratic and harsh as he rocked into the other male, violently assaulting Eren's prostate as Levi's own climax crashed over him in dizzying liquid waves and he filled the brunette with thick, warm cum. 

When Eren felt Levi burst deep inside of him, he immediately came himself, white liquid shooting between their entangled bodies. "Mmmm," Eren hummed, blissed out and trembling from being taken so thoroughly by his mate. "S'good... s'good. Never felt this good in my life. All yours now... only yours. Body and soul forever..." Eren mumbled, his face buried into Levi's shoulder.

Levi shuddered, rolling his hips as he rode out both his and Eren's orgasms, feeling the slick inner walls rippling and milking his cock greedily as warmth spread between the press of their bodies where Eren had spilled himself. He hummed, lapping up the rivulets of sanguine blood that beaded and teared from the bite he'd left, savouring the intimacy of the act, the claiming of his Nightingale. Eren belonged to him. "Yes Nightingale, mine. Always mine. **Only** mine," he murmured in response, petting at the brunette, touch tender and gentle now that the lust had been sated momentarily. 

"If anyone else ever touches me, I'll kill myself for being tainted," Eren said with a crooked smile and his eyes closed as his hands rubbed up and down Levi's back, still holding on to him tightly.

Opening his eyes halfway, he looked up at Levi with complete infatuation. "I keep telling you I love you... but those three words don't seem like they are a good enough explanation," he said, his brow furrowing with frustration. "Is there anything you want me to do to prove myself? I'll do anything!"

Levi pulled away to look into the deep mossy depths of Eren's eyes, "No, your life is mine. If anyone touches you, they forfeit their own life and I will replace their unworthy touch with mine. You may never take yourself from me Eren... **Never.** You love me, you live for me, you breathe for me, you understand? I love you as you love me and that means you can never leave me Nightingale. You may never go where I can't follow. You need do nothing else to prove yourself, but stay at my side and sing for me," he said in a low and serious tone, the words heavy with possession and no room for argument, "I'll always keep care of you." He stroked his hands up and down Eren's sides and shifted over him, his softening member slipping out of the slick embrace of the younger male's body as his gaze remained firmly locked with Eren's, the mercury dark and the pupils darker within the snowy rings. 

Eren's eyes widened with shock as Levi spoke sternly to him. He dived into Levi's shoulder to hide his face and said, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad... I just want to be perfect for you... I don't want anyone else to ever touch me like you do... But I'll be strong and stay by you for eternity. I'll never leave your side unless you command it..." His breath hitched as he tightened his hold on Levi even tighter. "I've waited for you for my entire life... I am broken without you..." he said with a sniffle, trying not to cry again. 

Levi's gaze softened and he wrapped Eren in his arms protectively, "I'm not angry Nightingale. You are perfect for me. You'll come to understand. You need never be broken; I will always be with you. Hush now. No more talk of parting or hands that don't deserve your skin. You are mine now and I am yours," he said quietly, rolling to the side, keeping Eren firmly held against him as he drew the bedding up over them. He stroked Eren's hair softly and pressed kisses on the crown of his head in a show of his affection, "Such a precious gift you are, my love, don't ever believe yourself unworthy. I am far from displeased. You are perfect Nightingale." 

Slowly, Eren nodded his head as he stayed pressed against Levi's heart. "I love you my Raven. Stay with me forever too. Nighty night," he said, nuzzling against the soft skin of Levi's chest. With a yawn, he entangled their legs together and then relaxed, allowing himself to be lulled to sleep by the sound of Levi's breathing. 

“As I love you Nightengale.” Levi closed his eyes, but he didn't sleep; he never did it seemed, but he didn't mind, content to hold Eren as the young man slept against him. He continued to run gentle fingers through his hair, listening to his breaths and imagining Eren's heart beating in his chest, syncing with the steady rhythm of his own. Tandem... Two half souls reunited and finding rhythm in one another. 

Eren was beautiful and nothing short of perfect. Levi had meant his words. He'd never felt before, not like this, never like this. It was potent and all consuming. The shadows in his heart were stirred and made space for the light that his Nightingale had ignited in him and it was exquisite in a most profound and intoxicating manner. Eren's devotion was lovely and Levi would never get enough.


	5. Dreamcatcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellllooooo! 
> 
> So here's an update for this fic and there will likely be one for [Luck of the Irish](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7947454/chapters/18170575) tomorrow or Sunday and the following weekend which is Christmas, we will be posting something special as a gift for all of you who've been supporting us all this time! We really appreciate it! 
> 
> In the new year, you can expect more updates for all our fics, but of course, your continued support and patience will be appreciated while you wait for us to get our butts in gear. 
> 
> Anyways, onward to the twisted loveliness that is The Raven and his Nightingale. Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> *Trigger Warning*: Face-fucking, rough oral sex, and dick-stepping (Dunno if that's a thing. it's footplay, but not really), mentions of institutionalization, self-harm, and vague child abuse.

It was still early in the morning when Levi slipped away from Eren’s clinging embrace, taking the time to tenderly tuck the soft bedding around his songbird and pet his softer hair to settle him before the raven gave himself a cursory once over in the bathroom with a warm washcloth. Once satisfied, he covered himself in one of the fluffy, complimentary dark robes provided by the hotel and collected both Eren’s and his own clothing from the bathroom floor, folding them up to be sent off for laundering. He emptied the pockets of Eren’s trousers and placed the cellphone and wallet found in them onto the nightstand with the car keys on the brunette’s side of the bed.

He bagged the clothing and set them outside of the hotel room door for housekeeping to collect and made a call to the concierge to make several requests. Being such an expensive hotel, they were very accommodating to their customers and practically fell all over themselves to provide he and his companion whatever they desired. Levi had them send housekeeping immediately to retrieve the laundry and also send someone to purchase them clothing for both himself and his Nightingale. His order was very specific, sizes, colours, designs all dealt in detail just as was his order for breakfast, all to be charged to their account for the time being. They would need to do some shopping of their own later on; there were several items that needed to be collected, but they were not the sort Levi would leave to strangers to retrieve for him and they could also wait because he had no intention of rushing, perfectly pleased to spend more time with his mate, relaxing and bonding intimately.

When he’d finished, he’d slipped back into the bed and turned on the television, muting the volume and putting on the closed captioning as he was generally prone to do. He watched the news; he’d been locked away too long and needed to know how the world had changed while he’d been away. He played with Eren’s hair absently, leaned back comfortably against the headboard while he watched the screen and waited both for their food and his songbird’s waking.

Throughout Eren's slumber, he dreamt of flying through the sky with Levi, looking down on the world that was beneath them. It was perfect, and Eren was overjoyed to be dancing among the clouds with his beloved. But soon, his wings grew tired and he could not keep up with his Raven, a god who was made to own the sky. 

Farther and farther, Levi raced ahead of him. Eren tried to catch up, but there was no way he could, and there was no way he would call for Levi to slow down; Eren would never hold Levi back. As Levi's image disappeared on the horizon, Eren fell. 

With a squeak, Eren sat up then promptly rolled off the bed with a thud. “Ouch,” he said groggily, laying on the plush carpet of the hotel room, cold now that his bare body wasn't tucked into warm covers.

Levi shifted to peer over at his mate when Eren abruptly and unexpectedly ended up sprawled on the floor. Silvery blue eyes ran over his mate's nakedness with heated interest and threads of amusement. "Are you alright Nightingale?" He asked huskily as he offered a cool pale hand to Eren, prepared to assist in pulling the young man back into the bed with him.

Eren looked up at Levi with wide green eyes that were starting to sting from his dream that had turned into a nightmare. He sat up and grabbed Levi's hand then launched himself onto the mattress, tackling Levi into the bed. "Don't leave me behind," he begged, rubbing his face into Levi's chest, "I know I'm no good right now but I'll get better... I promise..."

Levi wrapped his arms around his clearly distressed songbird and stroked the pads of his fingers along his spine and through the silky strands of Eren's messy hair, humming quietly. "I'm not going anywhere Nightingale. Waking in such a state... Did you have a bad dream my love?" He questioned, rubbing his cheek against the top of Eren's head, pressing his lips to the crown softly.

Eren nodded his head in reply, still nuzzling the smooth pale skin of Levi's chest. Feeling a little chilled, he snaked his hands into Levi's robe that was now loose from Eren's tackle, searching for warmth and comfort.

Levi shifted a bit, allowing Eren to worm his chilly hands beneath the plush fabric of his robe without protest, a slow shiver running beneath his skin in response. "Mn, it was only a dream lovely. No need to be frightened, I'm here... Are you hungry? Breakfast should be here soon." He said, still petting at his mate soothingly as he changed the subject.

Eren shook his head, not wanting to end this moment with Levi's arms wrapped around him, until Eren's stomach growled loudly between them. Looking up with a sheepish smile, Eren said, "A little bit..." He reached up to give Levi a peck on the lips, then rolled off the man, stretching his sore body out. Now laying on his stomach, he smiled shyly at Levi, "Did you have a good sleep?"

Levi released Eren from his hold without argument and settled onto his side instead, propped up on his elbow, silver gaze locked on his mate as he trailed the fingertips of his other hand over Eren's back, tracing the various kiss marks he'd left along with the scattering of beauty marks that dotted the brunette's tanned skin. His songbird really was ever so lovely and it was something so satisfying knowing his flesh was only for Levi.

His eyes flickered to Eren's when he asked how he'd slept and the corner of his mouth twitched up. "I don't sleep much Nightingale, but I did enjoy watching and holding you while you slept. How are you feeling?" He answered, voice husky and quiet in the otherwise silent room.

"Mmm," Eren hummed, back arching under Levi's caress until he flinched. "Sore... My lower back is throbbing. I might have pulled something after falling out of bed." Sitting up, he decided to stretch, first doing a cat stretch and then moving into a puppy pose. Several cracks sounded from his back as Eren sighed with relief almost sexually. "Hah... I'm all tense," he said with furrowed brows, "That nightmare did a number on me, my Raven."

The dark haired male tilted his head, watching the languid movements as his mate stretched. "Mmn, after breakfast, we'll bathe. The heat will help soothe the tenseness," he murmured, lowering dark lashes, considering how pleasant he'd found bathing with Eren previously and looking forward to making his songbird clean once again. They could even soak in the large Jacuzzi tub.

"Tell me about your dream Nightingale," he requested after a moment, still watching the brunette intently, appreciative and possessive, the hand no longer touching Eren now resting comfortably over his own side.

Eren frowned as he looked at Levi, obviously tentative about revealing the information. Flopping down, he rolled on his side to face Levi although his eyes didn't lift from the duvet beneath them. "Um... we were flying... You were a beautiful Raven, completely black and glittering as you flew towards the sunset," he said, a smile lifting on his face. "I was a Nightingale and definitely not as pretty or as strong as you were," he continued as his brow started to furrow, "We played together and danced amongst the clouds until I couldn't keep up any longer..." Eren finally lifted his eyes to stare sadly into Levi's. In a broken and trembling whisper, he finished, "You flew away as I fell out of the sky." Eren lifted a hand to clutch at his heart, upset once more after retelling his nightmare.

Levi hummed lowly, the sound both thoughtful and soothing and he shifted closer to Eren in the bed, reaching for him again and drawing him against his chest possessively, endeared by the sentiments behind the young man's words, but not particularly pleased by his clear distraught. Certainly, his Nightingale's tears were beautiful, but his smiles were better. Levi did not like the fear; he could practically smell it and though he usually enjoyed seeing such emotions in others, he did not care for Eren's; it was too much like distrust. He had a strong desire to keep his songbird smiling, happy and protected. He’d meant it when he’d promised to keep him for eternity.

"I would never leave you behind Nightingale. You're mine. I'll always keep you and if you grow tired and can't keep pace, I'll carry you. You have my word Eren. Never be afraid of your nightmares; they aren't real," he assured quietly, threading his fingers through the back of Eren's hair, holding his head against his chest where his heart beat steadily, "Do you hear it pretty? It beats for you."

“Mmm I do…” Eren hummed, listening before he looked back up at Levi, eyes glazed over with worship, “If you say it, it must be so.” He smiled brightly up at Levi then rolled away to squeal and wiggle, trying to release his pent up giddiness at being near his Raven after waiting so long. “I’m so irrevocably happy, I don’t even know what to do with myself… You make me soooo happy,” Eren said in between giggles as he looked up from the ruffled sheets.

There was a loud knock on the hotel door and Eren immediately sat up and bounded off the bed as he said excitedly, “That must be the food you ordered, I’ll get it!” He bounced towards the door when he realized he was naked then ran into the bathroom to put on the second puffy bath robe. He dashed back to the door and ripped it open, a bright smile on his face to greet the hotel staff. But when he saw who it was, he immediately began to pout and tried to slam the door. 

A shiny black Christian Louboutin heel stopped the door right before it could close and kicked it back open to reveal a woman in a skin tight, black cocktail dress with a red scarf. She stepped around Eren, her steps strong and poised in spite of the height of her heels.“That’s no way to greet your sister, Eren,” she chastised, walking into the center of the room to look around with a chilled look on her face. 

Levi watched Eren fluttering around the room with a small affectionate smile, generally chilled eyes warm whilst on his soulmate. He leaned back against the headboard once again, crossing his ankles idly as he stretched his legs out before him on the bedding. His robe was disheveled and partially open from previously, leaving a generous expanse of his pale torso on display and he crossed his arms loosely over it when Eren opened the door to his sister instead of the expected staff. 

“Mikasa!” Eren whined, pouting behind her still, knowing that he couldn’t make her leave, “You promised Mom you would leave us alone!”

“I lied,” the woman said, tapping her foot as her eyes settled on Levi.

The warmth in the raven man’s eyes froze over immediately as he met Mikasa’s gaze. He wasn't pleased by the disruption. He didn't care for being rushed or cornered and the woman was treading dangerously with her unwelcome arrival. His eyes narrowed, unblinking as they stared at one another. "Nightingale, why don't you go freshen up while your sister and I get acquainted?" he suggested without breaking the eye contact with Mikasa, his head cocking to the side a little as if daring her to argue against the idea.

"Yes Eren, you need a shower. Go wash up since I'll be escorting you to see the family," Mikasa said, holding Levi's gaze, no fear to be found and not backing down. 

Eren looked from Levi to Mikasa, very unhappy with this development. He did not like to be left out of the conversation, but he also would not disobey his Raven. Sighing harshly through his nose, he turned on his heel and stomped to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He hated when Mikasa butted her nose into everything. He was finally with his Raven. Eren wouldn't let his sister ruin it. He stood in the bathroom for a moment seething before he shook out his shoulders and started the shower. Might as well be clean for whatever Levi decided they would do. 

Back in the living room, a battle of wills took place as Mikasa refused to back down from Levi's iced stare. They were silent for way too long, just watching each other as they sized up their opponent. As soon as the shower turned on, Mikasa's red lips curled into a frown. 

"He's covered in bruises," she stated, her tone balancing on the edge of confrontational.

The Raven cracked his neck, blinking lazily at the woman, a smug smile pulling thin lips taut in response to her words. "Beautiful aren't they? He begged for them," he replied as he shifted to stand from the bed, adjusting his robe. He kept his eyes on her and his back towards the wall, suspicious of the tone she was using and the look she was giving him. He could smell her distaste, not that he gave a damn. She didn't have to like him. He didn't need her permission to have Eren.

She grimaced at Levi's words that sexualized her baby brother, sighing as she lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "You do _not_ understand... Eren is... Eren is unwell..." Mikasa's unwavering tone became a tad exasperated. She looked at Levi's expression, feeling the insanity that lurked beneath the calm exterior. Her eyes lifted to the ceiling as she searched for the words. "My God I'm trying to explain my brother’s mental illness to a psychopath..." she said, putting a hand on her back and slightly leaning forward. Shaking her head, she looked back up to Levi, determination returned to her gaze. "Eren is a danger to himself. You've not seen his tantrums or his depressive episodes... He is fixated on you and has been for some time and seems very well right now, but I have to wonder..." Mikasa tried again, looking at Levi steadily to gauge his reaction, "What if he fixates on someone else and abandons you? It's possible. Will you hurt him?"

Levi wet his lips, letting out a breath through his nose. "It's you who lacks understanding. _Unwell, psychopath, dangerous…_ You wouldn't say such things if you understood us as we understand one another," he shifted his weight as he spoke, one arm crossing his waist and holding the elbow of his other while he palmed his chin, watching her, calculating while he considered all she'd said. He'd witnessed Eren's capacity to become manic. He didn't doubt that his Nightingale could be dangerous, but it was hardly a deterrent. He would take care of his songbird. 

His eyes narrowed further, the pupils nearly lost in the squalling mercury of frigid irises as he responded to her finishing words, "He _belongs_ to me. I'll never hurt him, but if he's tempted by another, I suppose I'll just have to rid him of the temptation. I've no intention of letting him go. You needn't worry. We're soulmates. I am his as much as he is mine and I will keep care of him." His tone was soft, but unwavering. He would never give Eren up. They had made promises and they would be kept, no matter whatever would come in the future.

"You do not understand," she hissed again, stepping forward aggressively as her frustration overcame her. "You cannot let him out of your sight... We don't know what his triggers are, but he has hurt himself gravely in the past... He's almost taken himself from this world numerous times." Breathing heavily, she took a step back, lowering her gaze to the floor as she reached to a hidden pocket in her seamless black dress. "We did everything we could... Tests and therapists and medication. It only made him worse," she said, almost devoid of feeling as she threw glossy papers at Levi's feet. It was a collection of photos, all pictures of a younger Eren in a white hospital gown. Some, he looked enraged, fighting against restraints as he silently screamed at the camera. Others, he was still, light gone from his eyes as he sat soulless in various places. 

"Before, I would not have let you anywhere near him... Before, I would have fought tooth and nail to keep him away from the likes of you," she admitted, raising her eyes almost defiantly. But then her breath hitched, eyes flashing with her own memory. "Eren is so... So precious to me and to a lot of people... We failed him when he went to that place," she said, a shiver running down her spine as her wing tipped eyes stared down at the photos, some of which displaying her worst memories. She glanced towards the bathroom and said, "He only got better when he found and fixated on you... You are the best medicine that we've found for him... That's why the family decided to free you..."

Something in Levi's gaze shifted, became more dangerous, volatile, but he didn't lash out like might be expected from the look that swirled silver in his eyes. Keen senses for body language, tone and word choice sparked recognition of the emotions Mikasa was displaying, her intent made clear to Levi. She cared deeply about his Nightingale as had the blonde young man he'd met previously. She was still wrong, but he didn't argue further with her. He understood Eren better than any of them ever would. Eren made sense to him, like he made sense to Eren. 

His eyes flickered over the photos, possessive irritation rising in him. Seeing his Nightingale in such distress, pinned and caged as he had been made his blood sizzle. He should have found him sooner. If only he'd known he was missing him. He couldn't have and there was no guilt for it, only disappointment. He had him now and he would keep Eren in his sight, keep him safe, safer than anyone had before, of that he was certain. He stepped forward, bent and picked up all the photos, shuffled them into order in his hands and offered them back to the young woman. He looked down his nose at her, brows furrowed slightly, smoldering confidence and possessive intent in his stare. "Take them back. He doesn't need to be reminded of his torture. He has me now. As you said, I am what's best for him. I will not abandon him. I love him," he said simply, no emotion or room for argument in his cool voice.

"He wouldn't remember even if he saw the photos... He completely blocked the time in the hospital from his memory," Mikasa said, gently taking the photos from Levi, not acknowledging his declaration, but also not meeting his gaze. When she’d allowed Eren to be placed in a mental institute, she’d failed her precious baby brother. She couldn't be his protector anymore. She must do whatever was necessary to keep Eren calm and happy, even it meant leaving him in the care of a psychopath. 

She stepped back away from Levi, feeling like they had come to an understanding. "As long as you take care of him and make sure he doesn't slip like in the photos again, the entire Titan organization will fully support you. Whether that is financially or anything else you desire. I'm sure you will be told more when you meet with my parents. They-" Her voice immediately cut off when a voice drifted into the room from the bathroom. Mikasa's eyes widened and her perfectly manicured red nails lifted to clutch at her chest as the Latin hymn grew in strength from behind the closed washroom door. The sound was beautiful and angelic as it bounced off the walls of the bathroom, echoing around and enveloping Mikasa and Levi. "He hasn't sang in years," she whispered, "Not since..." Her voice cracked, then in a whirl of movement, she turned on her heel and raced out of the hotel room, closing the door behind her. She felt unworthy of hearing Eren's precious voice after so long.

Levi hardly noticed her departure, his attention captivated by the sound of his Nightingale's unexpected singing voice. It was exquisite... He'd liked Eren's words and his speaking voice, the noises he'd made when Levi had been making love to him, but this was something else. It was beautiful and ethereal. He drifted towards the bathroom silently, palming the knob and opening the door without hesitation, closing it behind him. If the hotel staff arrived, they would certainly have the proper discretion and manners to leave the breakfast and clothing without interrupting he and Eren, so he had little reason to restrain himself.

Eren continued to sing under the spray of hot water that cascaded down his back as he stared up into the cloud of mist that had formed in the enclosed shower. He found he liked the acoustics and even though he hadn't sang in quite some time, the urge had struck him so he did. He didn't think his voice would echo out into the room for his sister and his Raven to hear, so he had no idea that Levi was stalking towards him.

His voice lifted as the refrain came to the Latin song "Lilium," but then he faltered with a frown, forgetting the words. He hummed for a second then immediately switched to Schubert's "Ave Maria," really enjoying himself now as his voice echoed in the shower while he thoughtlessly scrubbed his skin raw to be clean for his Raven.

The pale man untied the knot at his waist without looking, letting the fabric of the robe slide off his body with barely more than a whisper of sound that was lost beneath the sound of Eren's voice and the accompaniment of the shower static. Levi opened the clear glass door and slipped into the shower, lured by the sight and sound of his beautiful songbird.

"You have a lovely voice Nightingale," he murmured as he stepped through the steam, hands reaching to glide up Eren's sides appreciatively.

Eren's last note ended in a squeak of fright as he jumped, slipping on the soap slick floor to fall back into Levi's arms. He panted as he clutched his chest, trying to calm down after being startled, not having expected his Raven’s voice or touch quite so suddenly.

He gained his bearings and stood up once again, his slick skin sliding away from Levi's fingers. He ran his hand over his face and hair and turned to look at Levi. "I didn't think you'd be able to hear me... I'm sorry if I interrupted," he said, a little shy now that he had been caught.

Levi smiled and shook his head, reaching again to coax Eren in as he stepped closer to meet him beneath the heated spray of the shower. "No need for apologies my love. It was a welcome disruption. You don't have to stop," he replied, watching Eren from beneath hooded lashes, his pale skin turning rosy in the warmth. His songbird was so lovely, so perfect. He could not be a better match.

Eren folded himself into Levi's arms, feeling the man envelope him as water cascaded down them both. Just seeing Levi naked was enough to get him hard, looking down at the man shyly, pulling his hips away so that he didn't poke the man with his erection. He wasn't sure if Levi came in the shower for a sexual reason, and he didn't want to embarrass himself by making the first move and getting rejected. It was hard to curb his desire when they were both naked and wet. "U-Um, I haven't sang in a while... definitely not in front of an audience... I'm embarrassed," he admitted, ducking down to hide his face in Levi's neck. He began to pepper the man's skin in soft kisses, unable to help himself when he was surrounded by the smell of Levi.

Humming his approval at the feel of Eren's lips against his neck and collar, Levi kneaded at the other male's hips, encouragement in the caress. He tilted his head to the side to give Eren better access while he murmured his response, the tone huskier than it had been upon first speaking, "That's alright Nightingale. You've nothing to be embarrassed about. I'd love to hear it again whenever you are comfortable."

He felt Eren's erection brush his hip and shifted his stance to brush his own against Eren in return, assuring his songbird that he was far from uninterested. Eren was entirely intoxicating. It seemed the longer Levi spent with him, the more attractive he became. He was more perfect this moment than the last and Levi believed he would be more perfect in the next.

Eren gasped loudly and looked up, giving Levi a sheepish smile, knowing he'd been caught. "I've never felt sexual attraction like this..." Eren admitted, slowly reaching down to glide his hand over Levi's swollen member, feeling the soft skin with his fingers. His eyes flashed with an idea before he gently bit Levi's neck then dropped to his knees on the smooth tiling. Looking up at Levi, his breath ghosted over the man's cock as he asked, "I want a taste... May I?" His green eyes glowed with intensity; it'd been a long time fantasy of his to suck off his Raven so he was a little more than eager.

Levi looked down at the kneeling brunette, hands gliding along Eren’s jaw and wet hair and he shifted to block the spray of the shower fully so Eren wouldn't be drowned. His inclined his head and licked his lips, meeting the heated emerald gaze with his own molten mercury, half lidded and dilated thickly. "As you like Nightingale," he acquiesced, spreading his fingers on either side of Eren's head, thumbs brushing cheeks and temples with gentle reverence.

His cock throbbed, wholly interested in feeling what that lovely little mouth was going to do to him. Eren had such soft lips, perfectly flushed a reddish hue from kissing and being bitten in his nervousness and from the day before. Like the bruises marring the bronzed skin of his neck and shoulders, Levi found them beautiful, was proud of his claims on Eren. All parts of his Nightingale were his. Eren would never stray, never be neglected and left to seek out others; Levi would not let him.

Eren immediately sucked the head in his mouth, swirling his tongue as he tasted the flavour of Levi's cock. Holding the base, he pulled it out with a pop, looking up at Levi with a flushed face with his eyes glazed over. "You taste... you taste amazing... Better than I've ever imagined..." he said in awe then began licking the head like a lollipop and lapping up the precum. "I've wanted to... To do this for so long..." Eren admitted, nuzzling Levi's cock all over his face as he licked and inhaled the heady scent that was purely Levi. 

"Whenever I dreamt about you, it'd always be of you tying me down and fucking my mouth... Making me gag and cry... This is wonderful," he babbled, not even realizing that he was divulging his innermost fantasies to Levi in his excitement. Eren greedily drew the thick cock back in, sucking hard and exploring the skin with his tongue to get more of the slightly tangy but sweet essence that was his Raven.

Levi's breath hitched and a pleasured shiver ran the course of his spine. He combed his fingers through the water slicked strands of Eren's hair, a low growl escaping between the press of clenched teeth when the young man pulled away. He stared down at him, panting quietly as he watched Eren rub his face against his manhood as if he was trying to scent himself with it and it endeared and inflamed the Raven's lust further. His Nightingale's warbling desires spilling from those pretty bruised lips made him tremble ever so slightly, holding back from acting on them. "Is-- hah-- that what you want Nightingale? You want to choke on me?" he asked in a low, guttural and feral tone, fingers curling into the wet locks of Eren's hair as his mouth descended on Levi's cock again.

Eren’s eyes widened as he looked up at Levi, looking almost innocent as he was busy doing something so dirty. He nodded his head furiously, the motion making Levi’s dick move up and down as he refused to spit it out. To demonstrate his desire, he plunged it even deeper into his throat, taking it inch by inch as his eyes watered and his throat rippled in protest. But he soldiered on, willing himself to relax as much as possible when his nose was finally buried in well trimmed black hair that lined the base. He moaned as Levi’s cock twitched, his eyes rolling back in his head, sucking hard as he pulled it back out.

Levi hissed and grunted a curse, watching and feeling Eren's motions. The way his Nightingale responded to him, to his words and actions was so satisfying, enticing in a way Levi had not experienced previously. Most partners he'd had could hardly stir him and more often than not shied away from his darker desires. Eren did not and in fact seemed to revel and share in them. 

A feral smile curled the corner of Levi's lips, head tilted back and to the side, watching his cock slide out of that exquisite warmth with slitted glittering eyes. When Eren had reached the tip, Levi's hands tightened their grip on his hair and he pulled roughly as he thrust his hips forward at the same time, growling out a groan.

Eren immediately choked and gagged around the length that plunged in. It was painful and Eren’s body screamed in protest, but Eren moaned, his heart rising faster in pace. It felt so good to be used by Levi, for the man’s length to stifle Eren’s breath. He loved it and wanted even more. He lifted his hands to slide up Levi’s thighs, resting on his hips to gently tell Levi that he wanted more; he wanted it all. His own legs squirmed beneath him, his hips thrusting in the air, unable to help the motion as his arousal grew unbearably.

"Beautiful," Levi breathed harshly, watching Eren squirm, the tight close of his vibrant eyes and furrow of pained concentration on his brow. He could feel the ragged rush of breaths from Eren's nose, his throat contracting as he gagged and choked, the vibrations of moans that were not at all discouraging in their pitch. He licked his lips and hummed a pleased sound as Eren's hands found purchase on his hips and thighs, begging without words for more. How could he deny him?

Levi shifted his hips back and relaxed his grip only a second before it tightened once again and he began a steady rocking rhythm, breaths labouring as his arousal spiked viciously. Heat built steady and heavy in his gut as he fucked his mate's mouth, watching, always watching, assured that he was not causing his songbird unwanted duress. He wasn't; Eren wanted it and Levi's skin crawled with desire for him for it.

Eren continued to moan and squirm, so lost in his pleasure that he didn't notice the pierce of his nails into the skin of Levi's hips, egging the man on and begging for more. The real thing was way better than his fantasy, the feel and sound of Levi taking his pleasure from Eren was enough to make Eren cum without touch. His moans and whines grew louder, his eyes finally opening to gaze into Levi's pleadingly, trying to convey exactly what he wanted.

Levi's wicked smile became wider, predatory and possessive as he felt the biting of nails in his hips; eager, encouraging, pleading. Such a pretty pretty songbird he'd captured, wanting his Raven so desperately. The older man stilled the rough motions of his hips, but used his grip on Eren's hair to force him forward and back, forward again, rough, but never too far, perfect balanced pressure and pain. 

He preened knowing he was able to provide his soulmate with exactly what he wanted. Without any warning, deciding his mate deserved some relief of his own and because Levi wanted to watch him come undone again, he lifted one pale, almost delicate foot to press against Eren's straining cock. Forcing it up against Eren’s belly with even pressure, Levi found the throbbing pulse of it against the sole of his foot to be uniquely gratifying.

Dark brows pinched together as Levi felt the molten pool of heat in his belly tightening and rolling, warning that he was well on his way to his own peak, so high on Eren's willing subjugation and the wildness in himself that he didn't have to rein in that his end was inevitable.

Eren inhaled sharply through his nose at the sudden pressure on his cock, a strangled whine escaping around Levi's length as his eyes rolled back in his head. He came instantly, pulling Levi out of his mouth to cry out in pleasure, spit drooling out of his mouth and eyes full of tears as Levi continued to step on his dick.

As soon as Eren's mouth released Levi's cock, he wrapped one hand around it and stroked fast, the other hand still tangled and tight in water dark chestnut strands. "That's it Nightingale. So perfect," he murmured lowly between harsh breaths. Tightening his grip on his own dick and adding a little more pressure to Eren's jerking cock, he felt the tension in his abdomen snap with an abrupt wash of intense pleasure.

Pearly strands of cum shot from his tip and painted Eren's face and chest and he growled with feral possessiveness at the sight. He shuddered as he rode out his orgasm, uncurling his fingers from Eren's hair to pet him instead, removing his foot and shifting his stance. A soft, satisfied smile curled over his mouth as he let the euphoric high wash over him. The French called climax “Le Petit Mort,” the little death and wasn't that such an accurate description? The only other time Levi felt such intense satisfaction as he did with Eren was when he was trading life for death and it was Nirvana. 

As soon as Levi was done riding out his orgasm, Eren collapsed backwards in a heap on the ground, panting heavily and covered with Levi's seed. He lay on the shower floor with a euphoric look on his face. It was a few moments before he opened his eyes, looking up at his lover and smiled crookedly. "Next time I want to swallow, if you'll let me," Eren said, sticking out his tongue to lap up some of the white liquid that was covering his lips. It seemed like such a waste to wash it off and it made Eren frown. "I wish I could give you children," Eren admitted quietly, still looking up at Levi with doe eyes, lifting himself up to his elbows, but not yet feeling like getting up from the floor.

Levi looked down at his sprawled Nightingale, a fondness warming the liquid silver of his eyes. He cocked his head to the side, humming as he watched Eren's tongue flicker out to taste the threads of his release. "Of course I'll let you my love. There are few things I could deny you Nightingale," he murmured, slipping down to join Eren, ignoring the minor discomfort of the tile against his knees. He reached to thumb away stripes of cum from the younger man's cheeks, still watching him as Eren's quiet admission filtered through the static din of the shower spray. 

He met the wide and shimmering forest depths, somewhat caught off guard, but endeared by the unexpected statement. "Do you want children dearest?" He'd never particularly considered having any children, but that was before Eren, before he'd known he had a mate to spend his life with. If Eren wanted them, perhaps they could have them someday. He found the idea of making a legacy with his Nightingale not at all unappealing.

"I've thought about it... But... Since I'm a man, I can't give you any," Eren said a little dejectedly, tipping his head back so that the spray would wash off Levi's release. He wiped the water off his face and cocked his head at Levi with a small smile. "I daydream about filling our happy little nest with chickies," he said brightly to Levi, sitting up to cross his legs and place his palms on the floor in front of him, excited to tell Levi his idea. "Maybe we'd find some children that are like us... That understand..." he tried to explain, drifting off as his eyebrows furrowed.

Levi smiled gently at his mate, sitting back on his feet and reaching to touch his fingertips against the slick skin on the back of Eren's hand as he considered his words. 

He could remember being a child, different, so different from the other children, so different that his own mother had shied away from him. She'd been afraid of him, blamed him and hated him. She'd told him once in a manic rage as she threw things at him that he was the devil's child, born without a soul, black and dead inside. She'd never believed in religion before she'd had him, but she knew when she looked into his eyes that God must exist, for she'd seen the devil in her own son. Laughable from the woman who profited off sin, was stained by it, basked and bathed in it daily, had born him into it. If he was all she'd said, it was because she had sired him in a mire of debauchery. And he’d watched the light fade out in her eyes with a sense of liberation when she’d fallen victim to her own sin.

It'd never occurred to him before now, before Eren had said it, that there might be other children like him, like Eren. Children that were misunderstood, abused and despised like he had been, like his mate. The idea seeded itself deep in his mind, taking root there and he decided that he would find them, the perfect children to warm their nest as Eren desired. Perhaps it would not be soon, but eventually when he had taught his Nightingale how to hunt, how to fly with him. If Eren still desired them, Levi would find them and bring them home. "Of course my Nightingale. We'll find them when the time is right," he agreed, his smile never wavering. He would deny Eren nothing.

Eren beamed at Levi's promise, knowing that the man would fulfill it and find the perfect children for him. He leaned forward to nuzzle into Levi's face and give him a peck on the mouth before he carefully got to his feet to avoid slipping. 

"I'm starving and I've been in here so long I'm all pruney," Eren said, holding out his hand to help Levi up with a wrinkle of his nose, "Let’s go see if breakfast arrived while we were preoccupied."

Levi chuckled and let his mate pull him to his feet. "Mm, yes, I'm famished as well. Lead the way my love," he replied, turning off the shower without looking with his unoccupied hand while the other tangled with Eren's.


	6. *Important Author's Note*

Hello to all of our wonderful fans and supporters, this is a special notice we felt was necessary to make. No, we’re not on hiatus or anything like that, though we do ask that you all continue being patient with our updates, but that is neither here nor there. 

It has recently been drawn to our attention that there are some works being published by other authors that bear a striking resemblance to some of our works to the point that it is theft. We are currently investigating and taking measures to counteract the issue and would like to ask that any of you who happen to notice any such plagiarism to please to let us know via email at xander_bradeshaw@hotmail.com or teapotscandal@gmail.com. We don’t want to start some kind of witch hunt or war or any such thing, but it is disconcerting to see such blatant use of our characterizations and elements that we worked so hard on in works that do not belong to us.

We would like to express our gratitude to all of you loyal fans for your support and let you know that we appreciate you and will continue to share our works with all of you even with this upsetting discovery. Thank you all!


	7. Devil Dealing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eren brings Levi home to meet the parents oooooooooooo. 
> 
> Check out our new fic, [Matched](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9569126/chapters/21637172)! It's polyamory abo for those interested ;)

It was quiet in the car as Levi drove them in the direction Eren had given him in order to reach his parents’ estate for the meeting. Mikasa had apparently fled without having waited to _escort_ them as she’d claimed, but Levi hardly cared at all, perfectly pleased to take their time in arriving. His Nightingale seemed lost in thought, fidgeting unconsciously with the hem of his shirt which was new as were his other articles of clothing. Levi was wearing tailored, black trousers and a deep wine coloured button up shirt tucked in at the waist, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and the first two buttons at the collar left undone to reveal pale, sharp collarbones and a sliver of his toned torso, also all newly purchased and laundered. 

Breakfast had been a comfortable affair in which he had shared the meal with his mate, even opting to offer Eren pieces of fruit from his fingertips, and they had indulged for as long as possible, in absolutely no rush to go to the meeting. Levi generally liked to be punctual, but he didn’t care for being pressured and it was much more agreeable spending more time with his love than with people that he doubted would be able to understand either of them. Eren had quieted as soon as they had reached the car and he’d given the directions. Levi wasn’t sure if he liked the silence or not. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either. He couldn’t put his finger on it, perhaps his mate was nervous?

He let out an inaudible sigh, side eyeing the young man that was looking out the window, still fidgeting his fingers along the hem of his shirt and Levi realized he hadn’t touched him since they had left the hotel. Immediately seeking to rectify that, he reached across the spotless leather seat, slid his hand behind Eren’s back and around his side to scoot him across the seat where he could rest against Levi’s side until they arrived. It would be maybe twenty minutes or so with their current speed and traffic.

Dipping his head to press a kiss to his songbird’s temple, he decided he’d rather hear Eren’s voice and murmured, “Tell me about your family my love?”

Eren heaved a sigh as he draped himself across Levi, making sure to allow him enough room to drive comfortably. "What do you want to know?" he asked, nosing into Levi's neck to stop himself from fidgeting. If he focused on Levi and how perfect the man was, he could ignore being upset.

Levi hummed, considering what he wanted to know... Everything really, but they had plenty of time for him to learn all of it. He could start with something simple. "Anything Nightingale... Why not start with your childhood?" he replied idly, stroking his fingers through the back of Eren's hair as the young man leaned against him heavily and pressed his face into Levi's neck in what seemed to be becoming a habit, not that the raven minded in the slightest.

"Mmm," Eren hummed, thinking about it. "I don't remember a lot. I kind of have a shit memory when it comes to anything that isn't related to you," he answered honestly as he scrunched up his face. "I didn't see much of my parents, but when I did, they gave me a lot of presents. My mom would hug me until I couldn't breathe and I hated it ‘cause she always smelled like perfume and cigarettes. My dad would tickle me until I'd scream and cry for him to stop... They liked to dress me up in all sorts of outfits that I also hated. But they'd give me anything I wanted and if they said no I'd scream and cry until they said yes," Eren said, voice drifting off a moment before he shook his head slightly and returned to the story. "For the most part I was looked after by nannies and by Mikasa. I was only allowed to play with Mikasa until my parents started letting the son of one of their associate’s come for play dates. That was Armin... And that's all I can really remember..."

"Hmm," Levi murmured as he mulled over the other male's words. It seemed to him that Eren was loved, but was also sheltered and probably neglected more than he should have been, not that Levi had any experience in what would be considered a _normal_ childhood as his own had been far from what he assumed should be usual, what was considered publicly acceptable at any rate. Eren's family and friends seemed to care for him, but they were not equipped to properly _love_ him the way he most needed it, it seemed. Levi would forgive them their shortcomings since they had identified them on their own and freed him so that he could see to Eren's needs in their stead.

"It's too bad that your memory is so lacking, but it's alright. We'll just have to make lots of lovely new memories for you Nightingale," he flashed a fond smile at the brunette before he turned his attention back to the road and continued to speak, "Do you want to know more about me? You said before that you wanted to know everything about me. What would you like to know my love?"

"I read all the government and personal documents about you that I told my parents to retrieve. Tax records, bank accounts, credit card purchases, hospital records, foster care records, family court proceedings, passport documents, arrests, social insurance, birth certificate... Everything that could be found in relation to you," Eren said simply, not worried that Levi would get upset. Eren loved Levi; of course he would want to know everything. "But my favourite things are my collection of every photo I could find along with every interview you had, whether that was a part of your trial or a part of your art interviews. You've only ever done the one interview on your art and that one is my absolute favourite... I think that was because you explained more personal things about yourself when you have always been more closed off to the public..." Eren explained in excitement over his collection, but then he frowned. "It was so difficult to find everything about you," he said with a wistful sigh, "But now that I finally have you, I need to know everything that I wasn't able to find."

A quiet, flattered chuckle sounded from Levi in response to Eren's listed information, endeared by his eagerness to know everything about his raven. "The birthdate on file is incorrect. I was not born in a hospital. My mother had my uncle fabricate the information when we moved states when I was," he paused, recalling the age he would have been then when his mother had first packed up their meager belongings, threatened him to keep him quiet and refused to hold his hand, dragging him by his upper arm instead as they bustled to the train station that would take them across the stateline. She'd said it was better for business where they were going and she wouldn't have to pay off the neighbours for all the despicable things he'd done, even though she had done plenty of sinful things there herself. He had known just how she paid their rent, after all and about the white powder she used to forget. "...Six years old," he finished, no particular emotion colouring the low tone of his voice. There was no pain there, disappointment and threads of old anger, but no love lost in the memory of the woman who’d sired him.

Eren frowned immediately, looking up at Levi with an unhappy look on his face. "You're going to have to look through my collection to say what is right and wrong then. I don't want anything untrue..." Eren said, with a nod of his head. "The state took you away a couple times I read... Your mom wasn't a good mother, was she?" Eren inquired, a sad look on his face. "I wish we would have found each other sooner. I was lonely and you were abused... I would have protected you..."

Levi slipped his hand from Eren's hair to curve around his waist instead and gave him a squeeze, gaze soft and adoring as he glanced at his mate, pleased by Eren's desire to have only correct information about him. "I will do that for you Nightingale... Mmn, I wish that I had found you sooner too my love... As for my mother, well, she never understood me and no one understood her either, I suppose. She was not a warm woman, but it was better with her than with those other families. When we moved, the state didn't bother us anymore. She died when I was eight, by one of her lover's hands. Then I went to live with my uncle," he answered idly, considering, but not dwelling on the fact that if he had met Eren sooner, he could have kept him free of that prison his family had sent him to; his songbird would not have holes in his memories if that were so.

"I understand you... And if I ever don't then all you gotta do is explain and then I'll understand," Eren said quietly, nuzzling into Levi's neck once again. He frowned against Levi's skin and said, "I already know my parents won't understand... this meeting is going to be horrible..." His shoulders slumped a bit, showing his dejection.

"Of course they won't. So few do. You're the first I've ever met that does, and that is all that really matters to me. Everything will be fine Nightingale. Whatever comes from this, I have no intention of letting you go. Once we are free of these obligations, we can tie up my loose ends and begin looking for our nest, hm? Just the two of us," the older male assured, rubbing his palm up and down Eren's side in a soothing gesture, displeased by the dejected slouch of his posture and tone of his voice. He turned the steering wheel one handed, taking a left down the street towards the sprawling estate that could only belong to the crime family.

Eren sighed once more and looked out the window in disdain as they pulled up to one of his parents’ many houses. They parked in front of the doors to the mansion and Eren waved off the footman as he opened his own door and got out. He waited for Levi to come around the car so that they could clasp hands then they walked up the marble steps together, Eren dragging his feet the whole way. There was a reason he didn't visit his family often... 

"You ready?" Eren asked as he waved off the footman once more, waiting with a hand on the front door handle for Levi's reply.

Levi met Eren's gaze, inclining his head and giving the young man's hand a squeeze. "Of course Nightingale. There's no reason to be nervous. We're together," he verbalized, shifting closer to Eren as he palmed the door handle. He didn't like the anxiety that his mate was exhibiting; it was obvious to Levi that his songbird wanted to be anywhere but where they were. Mikasa had mentioned triggers and the raven couldn't help but think that Eren's family just might be one of them.

Eren just bit his lip and looked away; nodding slightly as he gripped Levi's hand harder. He opened the door and lead the way into the foyer, a giant set of double stair cases greeting them. 

"Eren! Darling! We've been waiting for ages!" A woman's voice called from somewhere in the house accompanied by the echoing tap of stilettos on wood and marble, getting louder as the source got closer. 

"Here it comes," Eren said grumpily, almost wanting to hide behind Levi and become invisible.

Levi's eyes narrowed in the direction of the sound of heeled steps and he drew Eren in against his side possessively upon Eren's warning, giving off the impression he'd rather no one touch his songbird. Eren was tense and it made Levi edgy, uncertain what exactly to expect.

Carla Jaeger walked into the foyer, her brown hair long and curled expertly. She wore tight dark blue jeans that were ripped at the knees along with a dark green blouse and green pointed stilettos. She was youthful looking, could pass for late twenties although she was approaching her mid fifties. It was also impressive how fast she could move in such high heels, tip toeing her way across the marble floors to tackle her son in a giant and suffocating hug, completely ignoring Eren's hand that remained attached to Levi's and refusing to let go. 

"Mom!" Eren whined, trying to push her away as his face scrunched up. 

"What's this "mom" business?" Carla said in a teasing tone, only tightening her hold as she tried to pull him away, "Too cool to call me mommy in front of your boyfriend?" She began to kiss Eren all over his face, completely smothering him in unwanted affection.

Levi cleared his throat to cover the growl that echoed in his chest and attempted to tug Eren away from the suffocating embrace of his mother as it was so clearly not something his Nightingale wanted. "Mrs. Jaeger I presume. If you'd be so kind, I'd like to have _my_ songbird back so we can get this meeting over with. We've some important plans for this evening," he said in a politely edged tone, hoping to draw the woman's overbearing attention away from his mate.

"Oh don't be silly! You will stay and have a late lunch. Or early dinner. Whatever you want to call it." Carla said, not even paying attention to Levi as she rubbed her face against Eren's. 

She was also ignoring her son’s obvious discomfort. Eren didn't really like to be touched other than by Levi. It made him feel all... Angry. Finally, he snapped. 

Letting go of Levi's hand, he yelled, "Get the fuck off of me," and pushed his mother away violently. As soon as she was away, he stamped his feet and his face turned red. He was hoping she would dial down her usual behaviour in front of a guest, but there was no luck. 

Carla rubbed her arm where Eren had pushed her, obviously pouting. "But snookums, mommy hasn't seen you in so _long_." she said with a waver to her voice and a tremble in her lip. 

Eren took a couple deep breaths and let them out slowly, trying to regain control. Finally he calmed down then sighed. "Let's just get this over with... Dad and Mikasa in the dining room?" he finally asked. 

"Yes darling! I hope you two are hungry!" she said, smile instantly returning to her face as she danced in front of them leading the way to lunch. Carla Jaeger was a master manipulator and Eren had been avoiding her overbearingly childish nature since he’d turned of legal age.

Levi's jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth, obviously irritated by being ignored by the pushy woman. She was wrong. So wrong. They would leave when Levi said so which would be as soon as whatever negotiations were to take place had finished, sooner if his songbird became too upset. He could see why his mate wanted to stay away from here. It was as cloying as Carla’s perfume and distasteful enough that he scowled.

He wrapped his arm around his angry mate and drew him in as they made their way to the dining room, offering Eren his support and assuming his proximity would help calm him back down. "Say the word love and we'll leave," he said and he meant it; he would hear them out, but not if Eren became any more distraught. He couldn't remove these people the way he would anyone else that upset his mate, but he could take him away from them if his Nightingale so desired it.

Eren bit his lip, but continued walking towards the dining room, albeit slowly as he leaned into Levi for comfort. "I'm okay... I told you they are... Weird towards me. Always have been. It's like I haven't aged a day since I was four... But if we avoid them now, they will just annoy me until I concede. They won't leave us alone until they have their fill," Eren growled quietly to Levi, glaring at the back of his mother’s head. He was able to handle his parents attention for a short time, and usually their attention would be focused elsewhere once they were happy. It was selfish, but that's how they always were.

Levi nodded his head subtly, accepting Eren's explanation. His mother certainly seemed to fit the description. He gave Eren a light squeeze as he murmured in response, "At least we'll be moving to a nest by the ocean and they won't be able to visit unannounced, hm?"

"Yeah," Eren said wistfully as they finally made it to the dining room. It was a massive room with a polished mahogany table large enough to seat twenty people on either side. At the end of the table near a giant fire place sat Grisha Jaeger, long brown hair pinned back in a ponytail, familiar green eyes hidden behind glasses. He stared at the two calmly while seated at the head of the table as his wife bounced beside him and Mikasa sat to his left. 

"Eren," he said quietly, a much more muted personality than his wife's, "It's good to see you. Have you been keeping up with your therapy appointments?" 

Eren's face scrunched up as he walked down the long table with Levi to pull out a chair for his Raven then sat himself down beside Mikasa, slumping down like a naughty teenager. He ignored his father’s question and said, "This is Levi... You both should know who he is." 

Grisha inspected Levi quietly before he spoke once more. "Yes... We have heard a lot about you over the years from Eren, Mr. Ackerman." 

"Yes," Carla piped up, finally acknowledging Levi now that Grisha had, "We were hoping Eren would find someone more... Normal... to develop a crush on. But here we all are. And of course I'd deny my baby nothing."

Levi sprawled himself in the chair, appearing undisturbed for all intents and purposes, one arm resting along the back of Eren's chair. There was a calculating coldness behind his eyes as they surveyed Eren's father, flickering between the other members of the family briefly when they spoke. His face remained stoic and still, though his blood sizzled beneath his skin with annoyance... There was that word again, " _normal_ "... He tried to remind himself that they just couldn't possibly understand him and his Nightingale.

"Indeed. I'm undoubtedly fortunate to receive his affections and you have my gratitude for my freedom. I understand this meeting isn't meant to be a simple social call," he prompted, unconcerned with making small talk or allowing for Eren's parents to make the young man any more uncomfortable.

Mikasa looked between her parents and Levi, but ultimately remained quiet. The other man already knew how she felt from earlier, and she was in no mood to try and defuse the situation. She was still shaken and couldn't even turn to look at Eren slumped beside her. 

Eren's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you insult Levi one more time, we will leave and you will never hear from me again," he threatened his mother. There was nothing _wrong_ with Levi. He didn't need to be "normal" and this wasn't just a crush. They were _soulmates_ ; Levi had said so. 

Carla gasped comically loud. "Eren! I meant no offence. Levi knows I didn't mean to offend. It's not every day your precious baby boy springs a serial killer from prison and brings him home to meet the family," she said, face a picture of aghast, but eyes cold and calculating. 

Eren immediately bolted to his feet, knocking the chair down behind him and grabbing his knife off the table. "Don't call him that," he yelled, pointing the knife at his mother, "You promised you would be nice! I should have never brought him here. You promised! You can't be mean!" He ranted, wanting to throw the knife at his mother and leave. 

"Eren," Grisha said, voice the same volume, but with a dangerous edge, "We are trying to have a discussion. No one wants to deal with another one of your outbursts. I will have to get you some medication if you can't calm down." 

Eren was breathing hard as his eyes darted between his parents. Why were they like this? They made _everything_ impossible. 

Carla lifted her palms immediately. "Eren, sweetie. You need to calm down. Mommy won't be mean anymore. I promise. You wanted Levi, Mommy and Daddy got him for you, yes? So you need to calm down honey, for your health," she said, placating her son as she moved to sit beside her husband. Mikasa quietly stood to take the knife from Eren's hand before he could hurt himself or someone else with it, giving Eren a pat on the arm before she righted his overturned chair and took her seat once again. 

Eren glared between the two of them before he sat down in a huff, turning his head away from them in disgust. "Fine. But if you say one more shitty thing, me and Levi are leaving," he growled. 

"That's fine son, now can we please let us talk?" Grisha chastised as if Eren was a child interrupting an adult conversation with a tantrum. 

"Whatever," Eren huffed, leaning over to drape himself across Levi. He was so on edge, he didn't know what to do with himself, wanting to take Levi and run. He knew this was exactly what would happen if they came here. Even though he was grateful for his parents’ assistance in releasing Levi, he didn't want to live under their rule.

Levi watched the scene unfolding with pursed lips and sharp, chilly eyes. He remained eerily still as his gaze ran between the members of Eren's family and his songbird. It appeared he hadn't been wrong in his assumption that they were one of the _triggers_ Mikasa had mentioned. The way they spoke to him was disdainful. It was as if Eren lacked the mental capacity to comprehend any conversation with depth. They were not _listening_ , not really, not like Levi did. Hearing what they wanted to hear, speaking in manipulative placating tones, condescending and underhandedly demeaning as if Eren didn’t notice it, as if Levi wouldn’t. The Raven didn't like it at all. His Nightingale was more than capable. It was no wonder Eren didn’t sing for them.

His fingers flexed against his thigh, the tips tingling with numbness. When Eren sprawled over him, he wrapped the arm that had previously been along the back of Eren's chair around the young man's shoulders instead and stroked his fingers through the back of his chestnut hair, massaging his scalp soothingly with gentle fingertips. He inhaled a steadying breath through his nose and let it out slowly through slightly parted lips, shifting his body subtly to better accommodate his mate against him and narrowed his eyes on the couple at the end of the table. 

"That will be quite enough I think. Tell me what you want from me in exchange for my freedom so that I can take my Nightingale home. Blood or not, I don't care for how you've upset him," Levi said evenly, making clear that he had no delusions about where he stood. He'd known from the start that his freedom would come with a price. He certainly had no inclination to become a part of their family. He and Eren had plans to build a family of their own and one that would not be lacking in understanding.

Carla and Grisha watched with wide eyes, seeing their son soothed from a fit without any violence. It was very seldom that Eren was able to calm down and so quickly without more shouting and at least one or two pieces of broken furniture. That was why they’d allowed Eren to move out; they couldn't control him no matter how hard they’d tried to bribe him. They glanced at each other as if to say the decision to let Eren stay with Levi was the right one. Mikasa was silent and kept her eyes on the table. 

"Of course," Grisha said, reaching over to squeeze Carla's hand. "We have a task for you that might prove to be too difficult. You see, there's a sensitive piece of information that we need to access... And none of our... _persuaders_ have been successful. If you are able to extract this information, and maybe complete a few assassinations for the Titan organization, then consider your debt paid."

A dark smile twitched on Levi's lips. How ironic that they wished to employ him as an assassin and interrogator of sorts... It was almost hilarious really. Hadn't they called him a serial killer, abnormal; did employing him somehow make him more acceptable? Laughable... 

"Alright and when I've paid my debt, you'll not bother us again? If my songbird wishes to see you, he'll see you. I'll keep him protected and safe, looked after so you needn’t be concerned. Is that agreeable?" he replied, idly playing with Eren's hair, looking down at him fondly while he spoke.

"He's my son," Carla growled, "I can bother him if I-" 

"Carla... Eren is a grown man. If he wants to be with Levi then we can't stop him," Grisha interrupted, a pleased glint flashing across his eyes. Bowing down to his son’s whims might actually benefit them for once. Carla had always spoiled Eren too much in his opinion. Maybe Levi's strict approach was what the boy needed. He obviously knew how to handle Eren already and that much was a God send. "It's a deal then?"

Carla was pouting in her chair, obviously angry that Grisha had silenced her. She may be one of the heads of a multinational crime syndicate, but she definitely could be childish and petty at times. She would never accept any lover that tried to take away her baby boy.

Levi looked up at Grisha and inclined his head in agreement. He held the other man's gaze for a long second before he shifted his eyes to Eren's mother. He wet his lips, considering her for a silent moment before he spoke to her, "He will always be your son, but you are not what he needs. He belongs with me now and I don't appreciate unexpected visitors. I won't keep him from you if he wishes to see any of you, but you'll not demand things of him when he refuses," he said, trying to convey that he had Eren's best interests in mind and of course, that he had no intentions of catering to anyone else’s desires but Eren’s and his own. 

Once he'd finished speaking to Carla, he turned his attention to Eren instead, clearly dismissing the woman, "Nightingale, do you wish to stay?"

“I'm tired… My head hurts… I don't wanna be here anymore,” Eren said and Carla immediately scrunched her face in a glorious cat butt impersonation. 

Carla was about to speak up in protest, but Grisha silenced her once again with a squeeze of his hand. “So be it. If Eren doesn't want to be here, none of us will have an enjoyable meal anyway. It was nice to meet you Levi. Eren, you know where to call if you need us,” the man said dismissively, grabbing his forgotten paper off the table to open once more and nodded to a servant off to the side to serve their lunch. Carla pouted silently in her chair, while Mikasa remained stonily silent. 

Eren smiled immediately, happy to be released without a fuss. Jumping up, he went around the table to kiss each of his family member on the cheek before he pranced back to Levi to take the man by the hand and lead him back towards the front door and their freedom. 

Levi was silent as his mate said his farewells and didn't do more than incline his head in a businesslike gesture of his own, perfectly pleased to treat it as much like business as it was. He let Eren lead him away, firmly embracing his songbird's hand until they had no choice but to part once at the vehicle. The raven opened Eren's door for him, assisted him in settling in and pressed a kiss to his temple before he closed the passenger door and went around to his designated side. 

Once in his own seat and leaving the gates of the estate behind in the rearview mirror, he looked sidelong at the young man in the seat next to him. Eren had gone quiet again like he'd been before they'd arrived, pensive, yet indifferent. "Your mother is exhausting," he commented, unconcerned with the politeness of the statement; it wasn't untrue. He'd said it to perhaps get a reaction, to pick up what his mate might be thinking, to gauge his emotional state now that they were no longer in the suffocating presence of his Nightingale's relatives.

"Mmmm yeah she is. Sorry, was I complaining about her again?" Eren asked, snapping out of his internal monologue to focus on his mate, leaning on his shoulder to nuzzle against Levi. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she's nice when you finally meet her," he added, rubbing his hand up and down Levi's arm.

Levi wrapped his arm around Eren, one brow arching as the young man replied. The raven was silent for a long moment as he connected the only dots that seemed logical in receiving such a response. "No," he answered slowly, "You weren't complaining about her. Are you feeling well Nightingale?"

Eren shook his head as his face scrunched up. "My head hurts... how about we call my parents and meet them another day? I don't feel well and I don't want to go now..." Eren said, looking at Levi pleadingly.

The older male kneaded at Eren's side soothingly. "Mm, we don't need to meet them again for now. I'll take care of it. You just close your eyes and rest Nightingale. We've time to revisit the matter later," he said, leaning the side of his head on top of Eren's. He wasn't surprised that Eren seemed to have blocked the entire meeting from his memory, but he was perplexed by the speed at which the young man had put it out of his head completely; the whole ordeal had never happened at all in his Nightingale's perception. It was telling and resolved what Levi had gathered before and during the meeting. 

Eren's family was most certainly one of those _triggers_ Eren's sister had previously mentioned. Levi made a mental note to get himself private access to deal with the syndicate and keep his mate as far from his family as often as possible. He didn't much care for the hollowness behind Eren's normally expressive eyes. It was better Eren forgot them anyway, better if he only saw Levi. His Raven would not let him down; they were each other's family now, soulmates for life. And it was with possessive pride that Levi knew Eren hadn't and would never forget him.


	8. Flying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello, here's an update! It's a long one and we hope all you who have been waiting for it will enjoy it.
> 
> *Just a reminder as well, this fic is rated Explicit and mature for a reason, heed the tags. This chapter contains graphic violence, depictions of torture, gore and horror. Viewer discretion is advised.*

Early the next morning after a night being taken by his raven over and over and over again, fully claimed again and again desperately to fend off the agitation of meeting Eren’s family, Eren felt Levi leave the bed and go god knows where. It bothered him, forcing him to toss and turn in the giant bed. Eren didn’t like not knowing where his Raven was, and it took every last shred of willpower he possessed to not follow and stalk his lover’s movements. Levi would have told Eren if he wanted him to know; would’ve brought Eren along if it was for Eren’s eyes to see, so he knew he could not follow. He had to trust the Raven to come back, and he did. However, it didn’t stop his skin from crawling or the anxious biting of his fingernails until they bled. 

At last kicking off the covers, Eren decided he needed to do something. He knew that they would not be spending that much longer in this hotel room, so he decided to sweep the place, collect every single piece of Levi’s hair, fingernail trimmings, and any piece of garbage he’d touched especially anything the Raven had touched with his lips. Eren combed over the entire hotel room on his hands and knees, labelled and dated every plastic baggie precisely as he worked. That was how Levi would find his Nightingale when he finally returned, his mate wearing only a pair of blue underwear with reddened knees and an even redder face, instantly trying to hide the things that had belonged to Levi that he’d collected, naively thinking he had had more time to put away the evidence of his embarrassing compulsions. “I-I d-didn’t think you’d be back for a while,” Eren spluttered, trying to hide the plastic bags behind himself, knowing from experience that he would be thought of as weird for needing to collect such items. Hopefully Levi wouldn’t make him throw it all out; the thought made Eren want to scream and cry, not wanting to give up his treasures. 

Levi strode into the hotel apartment with confidence, completely assured that his mate would still be waiting there for him though he'd been gone for hours. He did not worry; Eren would not leave him. He had a nondescript brown paper bag held in the crook of each arm and he stopped abruptly as he took in what his lover appeared to be doing. His normally chilled eyes became softened and warmed with no small amount of delighted pride. He slowly set the bags down on the closest table before approaching Eren with an affectionate grin on his lips. “Don’t hide Nightingale, show me,”Levi coaxed huskily, lending a sultriness to the quiet demand. He knew what Eren was doing, well-honed observational skills picking up everything he needed to know from Eren’s behaviour, nervous stuttering and desperation to hide the baggies labeled meticulously with the utmost care and filled with the most mundane of his things inside. It was entirely too endearing in the Raven’s opinion. HIs mate wanted to keep as much of him as possible. In Levi’s perspective, his mate was gathering nesting materials, finding Levi to be a most comforting presence and craving it even in the raven’s absence, surrounding himself in his things instead to soothe himself. Levi preened; the sentiment was incredibly flattering to his baser nature. And he was determined to show Eren he had nothing to be ashamed of in that.

Eren looked up with wide confused eyes; Levi didn't sound annoyed or upset. In fact the man sounded happy. Slowly, Eren reached behind himself and laid out his collection so far. "They are just... pieces of you that would've been left behind... None of you should be left behind... It's all important... Especially this one," he said, his voice growing in excitement as he lifted one bag up to eye level, almost vibrating with happiness at his find. Inside the plastic bag, a single eyelash sat at the bottom, making Eren's face turn bright red and almost pant at his newest addition. "It's perfect," Eren whispered, staring at the precious eyelash and almost forgetting that Levi himself was standing right in front of him.

"I could say the same about you my darling," Levi murmured, watching the young man practically vibrating with excitement, obviously delighted with what he'd collected. His smile broadened and he crouched down to better see what his mate had revealed. He reached out to brush his knuckles over Eren's flushed cheek and stroked through his hair lovingly while he spoke further, "You needn't sneak around for these things anymore pet, I'll gladly save them for you if you so desire them."

Eren nuzzled Levi’s hand though his face scrunched up. "I wasn't _sneaking_ around really... I just... Didn't think you'd want me to do this..." Eren admitted, beginning to pout as he picked up the baggies to clutch to his chest, "These kinds of things are important to me... But Mikasa and Armin say it's just garbage and that my need to collect it is... unhealthy." Eren visibly winced at the idea, looking up at Levi with big wide eyes, "I promise not to do it all the time... I won't really need to once we get to our permanent nest... But the thought of leaving pieces of you behind makes me kind of want to scream and cry and hit myself..."

Levi tugged on a lock of Eren's hair playfully, "Well I am not Mikasa or Armin my love. So long as you take care to be sure nothing you collect will spoil and decay, and properly keep them ordered, I don't see any reason you should abstain. I'm quite flattered to be so treasured by you Nightingale," he replied kindly, cataloguing each item in his mate's collection with prideful interest before he remembered he had a gift for the young man as well. "Mm, I have something for you pet."

"Well of course," Eren said, cocking his head with a bright smile. "I've been doing this sort of thing for years before we met... I've treasured you for far longer than you can even imagine," Eren boasted with pride, becoming giddy for Levi accepting his more extreme quirks he'd been trying to suppress for years. It was so unbelievably relaxing for his partner to accept him so thoroughly. He didn't think his devotion to Levi could grow any deeper than it already had, but Levi continued to surprise him with how perfect he was in every way. "Oh a present?" Eren inquired as he very carefully set his baggies down to be catalogued later then gave Levi his undivided attention. "What for? I have no gift to give you in return..." he added, nervously beginning to chew on his bottom lip.

Levi leaned in to press a kiss to the side of Eren's lips, murmuring quietly against the soft flesh, "Having you accompanying me is gift enough my love." He then drew away, standing up and reaching for the paper bag closest to him before he knelt down in front of his mate.

He pushed the bag in front of Eren, its contents hidden beneath a layer of black and white tissue paper. "I'm afraid it's not my best work and I will make us both something more worthy once we've settled and I have access to my usual materials, but it is suitable enough for your first flight... Go ahead and open it Nightingale," he said, watching Eren avidly, pupils thick with desire and adoration. So lovely his songbird was, still so shy, but so beautifully unique, so kindred. Levi had not kept count of the times he'd already had his mate, how many times he'd had his hands and lips against that tempting golden skin, how many times he'd sank inside him, stayed there for hours and never bored of it. He was captivated thoroughly by his young lover, completely devoted to him.

Inside the bag was a beaked mask made of light plaster, smoothed on the inside and roughened on the outer surface, pure white and speckled cinnamon and grey feathers delicately and expertly attached adorning its face and peaking at the top, tiny lacquered beads scattered between them and outlining the smokey charcoal beak and rimming its, as of yet, eyeless gaze. He had not been able to use his usual paints, the specific and favoured brushes or plaster. He'd have preferred the soft red clay he normally used and the feathers were not as silky as he would have liked, but it was at least something. His own matching Raven's mask, decorated in opposing prismed black sat in the other bag, atop the clothing, supplies, and weapons he'd collected as well when he'd been out.

As Levi spoke, Eren assessed his Raven's demeanour and the sudden electricity in the air around them, realizing that what he was about to be given was beyond important; possibly one of the most important gifts he would ever receive from his lover. Blood began to rush through his veins as his heart pounded in his chest, making him feel it in his throat as he oh so carefully took the package into his own hands. He even unknowingly held his breath as his trembling hands reached into the bag to carefully take the item out and remove the tissue paper, eyes darting up to Levi's for encouragement with every passing moment. As soon as the delicate white feathers of the nightingale mask were revealed, Eren gasped loudly, eyes as wide as saucers and quickly filling with tears as he lifted the mask to better view the intricate details. He began to shake in earnest, looking to Levi with eyes filled with infatuation and worship, unable to speak since words could not possibly express what he was feeling in this moment. 

His hands still trembled, green eyes locked with Levi's silver as he slowly lifted the mask to press onto his face, the fit as perfect as could be, literally turning him into Levi's Nightingale. He felt ethereal, like he was flying in the sky with Levi right by his side, powerful beyond measure. Eren's tears began to fall and his mouth morphed into the biggest and brightest smile he'd ever made in his entire life, before he began to sing as an expression of how truly happy and blessed he felt. 

"There was a boy," his voice rang out in the hotel room, slowly sitting up on his knees to stare down at Levi, "A very strange enchanted boy... They say he wandered very far, very far, Over land and sea..." Sliding on his knees, Eren approached Levi pressing their fronts together before he started the next verse. "A little shy," he sang as he smiled, "And sad of eye," lifting his hand to trail his knuckles delicately from the top of Levi's temple to his jaw, "But very wise was he..." He began to sway through the next lyric, eyes green and glowing as he stared down into the depths of Levi's soul, hands lifting to smooth up the delicate and soft skin of Levi's neck to settle on his cheeks. "And then one day... a magic day he passed my way," he sang in almost a whisper, masked face dropping closer and closer to Levi's, "And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings, this he said to me..." Eren paused his song, feeling Levi's breath hitch below them as they both awaited the final verse. "The greatest thing," Eren breathed, "You'll ever learn," their lips were so close, "Is just to love..." His eyes were slowly threatening to close as he leaned even closer, "And be loved, in return..." The last bit of the song was swallowed as Eren finally pressed his lips into Levi's, desperately trying to convey exactly what he was feeling.

Levi watched his mate and listened to his beautiful voice, finding the sight of his songbird singing for him while wearing the gift he’d made for him was quite possibly the most attractive thing he’d ever seen, understanding that his mate was accepting the gift and all its implications, a*-nd not only that, but was elated and proud to have received it. It warmed Levi to the core.

When Eren pressed in to kiss him, he pressed back, feverishly taking Eren’s mouth and possessively drawing him in with a groping grasp. He laid him back, one hand pillowing the young man’s head as Levi stole his breath and rutted down against him roughly, his other hand already crawling over Eren’s side and chest, nails scraping lightly over his skin and reveling in the shudder of the young man beneath him.

Eren melted as soon as Levi's hands were on him, forcing all the anxiety and negativity he felt from his lover’s absence away. "I really feel like your nightingale now... I'll do everything I can to deserve it," Eren said into Levi's mouth as the man frantically continued to touch him. Eren could almost purr from contentment, arms wrapping around Levi's shoulders and holding on tight as he was moved this way and that, allowing Levi to place him how he wanted. Pulling back from Levi's heated mouth Eren smiled up at his Raven as the setting sun started to peek through the hotel window, "I cannot wait for my first flight," he said with wanting, opening his legs wide for Levi to rest comfortably between them.

“Tonight. I’ll teach you to fly in the dark Nightingale. Until then, time is what we make of it,” the raven murmured back, breath damp and hot against Eren’s lips. It would be a few hours until they would ready themselves and leave for their destination for the evening. Levi was excited, giddy from his mate’s response to his gift and an odd, almost nervous anticipation. It wasn’t anything he’d ever experienced before and he imagined it must be like what most people felt upon their first date with their heroine. Eren was his mate, eager to please him and to be a part of Levi’s entire existence, even the bloodier parts, did not shy away from the macabre desires Levi held inside him, but accepted and shared in them. In turn, Levi loved him more. With Eren, he would not have to work alone.

***

It was hours later, the dark setting in, cloud cover hiding even the pock-marked light of the stars and slivered moon overhead. The hours in between sunset and midnight we spent immersed in one another; Levi had not even bothered to attempt keeping his hands off his mate. He’d taken Eren a number of ways and times, then they’d eaten and bathed and Levi had taken him again against the wall of the shower and against the tiles until Eren’s voice had become hoarse and raw from his begging screams. Finally they had prepared to leave. Levi had become calm, falling into his familiar shadow-like grace and cool silence, save quiet instructions and directives to Eren, in which his husky murmur softened and belaid his fondness for his mate.

The house they crept into was nothing spectacular, simply a house on a street of houses exactly like it, nothing unique and nothing to boast about, but it was not the house Levi cared about; what made this house stand out was the one who dwelled in it. It was neither clean nor dirty inside, but somewhere in between that purgatory of a disorganised mind and habitual laziness. Levi despised it. Everything about it reminded him of its occupant and it fueled and justified his desire to end the poor excuse for a man’s existence, cleaning up another one of God’s mistakes.

Nile Dok ended his shift at the penitentiary at a quarter after midnight, cracked himself a beer in the cluttered and rusted box of his pickup and shot the shit with two of his coworkers for the next fifteen or so minutes before he made his way home. He arrived at ten to one in the morning and let himself in the front door with his keys, cursing himself for not replacing the outdoor bulb on the porch again as he did every night while squinting at the keyring in his hands. When the door finally opened to him, it was dark and silent within, nothing out of place, nothing amiss and he sighed in relief. It’d been only a couple days since Levi Ackerman had been released and his threat still rang in Nile’s head and lingered in his nightmares, but with every night that he came home to nothing, he convinced himself a little more that the raven had been bluffing. It wasn’t until he felt the garrot around his throat and choked on his own breath, that he realised he’d made a terrible mistake.

Levi had instructed his mate to knot rough lengths of rope to the tops of the dining table’s legs, checking them after and praising his love for a job well done and then he’d told Eren to duck into the shadows and simply wait; it wouldn’t be long now. When the car pulled in, Levi was already tucked in comfortably to his own shadows within the closet behind the front door. When Nile finally stumbled inside and the door had just barely closed behind him, Levi had crept from inside, gloved grip tight on the wire in his hands. Nile put up a rather disappointing struggle, lazy even in the throes of survival instinct. _Pathetic…_

The jerky movements of Nile’s body weakened further as his air was completely cut off, his face turning shades of red and purple as his eyes bulged most unattractively and Levi whispered to him from behind a sinister raven’s mask as his consciousness was finally fading, “Hello little vermin, I hope you’ll forgive me for my tardiness. I’d meant to come sooner, but some other business came up. No need to fret though, I never forget a debt. I’ve come to collect…” The last thing Nile saw before his vision faded to black was the almost luminous, awed and curious green eyes of what he mistook as a dove peering from the shadows of the dining room.

He slumped in Levi’s hold and the raven quickly beckoned Eren over to assist him in carrying the unconscious man to the table, tying him in a rough mimicry of crucifixion to the table top. Levi surveyed their work as Eren tightened the last knot on Nile’s left wrist. His eyes were alight with interest, heat and life as he watched his mate. He pulled Eren to him immediately once he’d finished his task and kissed him hard, petting his sides in a show of praise, “Are you ready Nightingale? Say the word and I’ll wake him. He owes you an apology for having stolen the gifts you sent to me and for keeping you from me so long,” he explained quietly, turning Eren to face the sight of the man laid out on the table and speaking close to his ear as he leaned over his shoulder, “Do you forgive him his trespasses or should he pay in blood?”

Eren's eyes trailed up and down Nile’s unconscious form, the green depths devoid of all emotion. "Such a sad creature," Eren breathed, leaning forward to get a closer look, face falling into a frown like he was examining something particularly displeasing. "He has a mind," he said, fingers trailing over Nile’s forehead, "And a heart," Eren continued, placing his gloved hand delicately on the pulse point of Nile’s neck, "I can feel it beat... I can feel his soul in his body as he slumbers..." Eren looked over his shoulder to catch Levi's eye, "And what has he done with the miracle that is life?" he asked, disdain creeping into his voice from the answer forming on his tongue. "He has done nothing but cause suffering," the brunette declared, slowly turning back to Nile to gaze upon him once more. "Poor, sad, lonely, despicably vile creature," Eren mused, before leaning back into Levi's embrace. "His sins against us may only be forgiven through blood and through pain, my love," he concluded with an air of melancholy, looking back up into Levi's eyes, "The Raven must come for him and cast judgement, or Nile Dok will never find salvation."

Levi inclined his head at his mate, an endeared and proud light in his eyes, obviously quite pleased with his mate’s choice. It was the right one, though he’d had no doubts when he’d asked, that his mate would know the correct answer. “I agree Nightingale, he had his chances for contrition,” he said, giving Eren a squeeze around the middle before he slipped around him and circled around the head of the table. He took out one of the butterfly knives he had tucked in the back of his waistband, flipped it open expertly, obviously quite familiar with it in his hand. He adjusted his grip, rolling the blade in his hand to catch it in a reverse hold and without warning, he drove it through Nile’s left hand viciously, pinning the appendage to the cheap lacquered wood of the table and smiling as the man woke choking on his screams. 

Nile’s eyes shifted wildly, his fear potent, and sour in his sweat. His heart pounded in time with the throbbing of his hand, pain burning up his forearm as warm, thick blood pooled beneath. Levi was looking at him, considering him almost curiously, the facination in the chilled silver depths of his eyes was more frightening than any anger or malice. Nile resigned himself to his fate then. He would die by the Raven’s blades and it would not be swift or painless. He wet his lips, though his saliva was thick and too sticky to really moisten them and he opened his mouth to speak, to taunt, or maybe cry and beg; he wasn’t even sure himself, still reeling over the realization that his life was going to end before the night was over. Any words he might have formed were overtaken by hoarse whimpers as Levi noticed his lips moving and viciously twisted the blade impaled through his palm.

“My love, could you retrieve the jars from our things and set them to fill beneath where Nile has so kindly begun to bleed for us. There should also be two pots of ink and brushes if you wouldn’t mind bringing those out as well,” Levi requested, looking back over his shoulder at his mate, an encouraging smile on his rosy lips.

“Of course, my Raven,” Eren said, bowing his head with an eager smile, a spring in his step as he almost skipped to retrieve what he was told to. He came back swiftly, arms full with the items, passing Levi the ink and brushes before he swooped down to place the jar to collect Nile’s blood. He then stood out of the way, waiting for Levi to begin his process, his heart thrumming with excitement to finally watch his love in action.

Levi thanked Eren, brushing a hand along his nape appreciatively before his attention shifted back to his prey. Nile was sweating, his eyes flickering wildly about the room and between he and Eren, his desperation and fear clear and potent in the air of the dining room. Levi’s body thrummed and buzzed, becoming aroused as he watched the blood drizzling from the wound he’d inflicted, a vicious little curl to his lips. He settled the ink pots and brushes by the bound man’s legs, frigid snow flecked silver dilated then narrowed as he came around to the other side of the table, pulling another butterfly knife from the back of his trousers. “Do you know what they did to liars and thieves in the time of Christ Nile? And even now in places that aren’t so soft and squeamish as this?” he asked conversationally, idly playing with the knife in his hand.

Nile visibly swallowed, a lump in his throat making it impossible to respond and leaving his breaths laboured. He pressed his lips together stubbornly, trying to retain even a shred of his pride. Levi clicked his tongue and leaned in closer, the eager fascination and desire for pain in his gaze sparking like streaks of ice in the squall of the blue-grey depths, “You’re so quiet Nile, don’t you have anything to say for yourself? You were never so reserved when there were bars between us. Lost your nerve have you?”

“Go to hell!” the guard spat raggedly in return. 

“Now now, that’s not a very polite sentiment when my Nightingale and I have been so gracious as to grant you the chance to repent. So rude, isn’t he love,” Levi said, glancing back at his mate who was watching him avidly and fidgeting with excited energy, “What do you think, should I continue his crucifixion with the other hand or his feet first for his poor attitude?”

"Very, very rude," Eren answered, almost dancing around the table to stand across from Levi. He smiled wide at Levi, the whiteness of his teeth shining through the dark room, just like the glowing green of his eyes behind the white mask. "I'm starting to wonder if his mother taught him manners at all," he observed, now looking down at Nile, a shudder of pleasure going up and down his spine at the fearful and pleading look he was given. "It would be bad for Nile to leave him unbalanced," Eren started, seeing just a sliver of hope flash through Nile’s eyes. He paused a few heartbeats, to let that flicker grow just enough then said, "The other hand needs its nail, my love." The hopeful flicker was instantly gone from Nile’s eyes and Eren's grin pulled even wider with glee. He never thought he would have so much fun alongside Levi. Eren felt powerful, invincible! Like nothing could ever hurt him again. It was a rush, and it made sense why Levi ached to continue his work. It was addictive.

Levi hummed his approval to Eren’s words, pleased by his Nightingale’s continued eagerness and encouraging answers. So lovely his mate was, a perfectly crafted partner made to belong to him, a fated matching pair of souls. He smiled fondly at the other masked male before he drove the second knife through Nile’s other hand, watching Eren as he twisted it in the guard’s palm while Nile cried out and swore raggedly. He wet his lips, feeling the throbbing under his skin pulsing and spreading, fingertips and toes tingling while his manhood stirred in his dark trousers in anticipation.

He looked down briefly to be sure the other jar was filling with the thick crimson of Nile’s blood, slipping yet another blade from his waistband. He straightened and turned to Eren, offering the blade to him handle first while he spoke, ignoring Nile’s raspy blubbering, “It’s such a lovely colour isn’t it love? Did you know it can’t be replicated by paint or ink, close, but it’s never quite the right shade. It’s my favourite colour to use. Would you like to fill the last jar?” 

With great care, Eren took the blade from Levi's hand, holding it up to behold its sharp perfection with wonder. "May I?" Eren asked, vibrating with eagerness as he turned the knife in his grip, ready to stab. "You spoil me, my Raven," Eren said with a smile, bowing down to press a soft kiss to Levi's hand in reverence.

Levi slipped around behind his mate as the young man took the knife from him. He slipped his arms around Eren from behind, pressing his growing stiffness against Eren’s backside as he leaned his chin on his shoulder. He pressed his lips against the side of Eren’s neck and adjusted Eren’s grip on the knife, curling his own fingers around the brunette’s and guided the motions, steadying as the sharp tip came to hover over Nile’s crossed and bound ankles. “Together my sweet Nightingale,” he murmured, pressing his lips up along the column of Eren’s neck to his ear, nipping at the lobe. 

“No! You sick son of a bitch. You won’t get away with this! They’ll find the both of y--” Nile’s frightened righteousness was cut off as into a high sound of pain as Levi arced the blade in their shared grip and brought it down remorselessly. There was the feeling of flesh parting, a soft squelching as the blade twisted, slid through sinew, muscle, and scraped bone. 

Eren shivered against him and Levi smiled against his skin, “How is it Nightingale?”

Eren was silent for a few moments, just breathing as he watched the blood begin to flow into the jar and savoured the screams of their victim. "Invigorating," he breathed, pushing his ass back into Levi's groin as he turned his head to look into his lover’s eyes. His question was silent, but very much apparent, asking Levi with his eyes what they should do next.

Levi chuckled breathily, pressing another kiss to Eren’s skin, revelling in his mate’s enthusiasm. He rocked his hips against the press of Eren’s backside a moment before he pulled away from him to continue with his plans, each movement meticulous, poised and graceful and sure. He pulled the last of the butterfly knives from his waistband, flipping it open in his hand and tapping the flat of it against his chin as he surveyed the red-faced and whimpering man splayed before them. 

Seconds later, having apparently come to a decision, Levi leaned over Nile’s midsection, slipping the knife under the seam of his shirt and slicing through it like water, the blade whispering through the fabric as it parted beneath its sharp edge. He smiled maliciously as Nile shuddered and his unfit belly sucked in as much as possible, shying away from the blade Levi held aloft over his skin, as if he could escape. As if he deserved too. A coward until the end; he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

The first touch of the blade to Nile’s chest made the man jump and his eyes welled and spilled over with fresh tears and he began to sputter and beg. “Please… I didn’t mean it. I never really meant any of that shit I said and did. I swear, please, I’ll do anything. I-I won’t even tell anyone what happened. I won’t say anything. I won’t… I promise. I’m sorry! Sorry… Please, please, please, please, sorry, please...” The simpering pleas were cut off by a low growl. 

Levi shifted, moving to hover over Nile’s face sinisterly, his silvery eyes devoid of compassion as he looked down on the pathetic display. “Lies… It’s too late for your false apologies and self serving regret. Do you know what deceivers deserve Nile?” he questioned conversationally as he ghosted the blade from Nile’s pulsing temple, along his flushed and wet cheek to the corner of his mouth. Nile remained staunchly silent aside the hitching of his breaths and the audible swallowing in his throat. Levi continued without prompting regardless, “They lose their cheating tongues,” and he smirked as Nile’s eyes went wide and he pressed his lips together, teeth clenching shut as if he could hope to shield the muscle from its fate. When the tip of the blade prodded at his stubbornly pressed lips, Nile thrashed his head to the side, forcing Levi to back off a fraction and sigh in exasperation as his prey continued to shake his head vehemently. That wouldn’t do at all…

He looked to Eren a moment, narrowed gaze pleased to find his mate’s attention still raptly on him. “Come over here to the head of the table pet and hold him still for me,” he directed with quiet insistence and coaxing encouragement.

Eren briefly nodded, dashing to the front of the table so that his Raven would not have to wait a moment’s breath. Reaching forward, Eren clasped his hand over Nile's nose, knowing that the man would have to open his mouth to breathe, then fisted Nile's hair so tight that it would be extremely painful to continue thrashing. "Shhh, shh," Eren whispered into Nile’s ear, "You shouldn't anger him... You never know, the Raven could show you mercy if you behave..." Eren looked up to Levi with a maniacal smile, purposely whispering vague promises to further the man's torment. Nile continued to be stubborn though, struggling against Eren's grip on his nose and hair. But it didn't take long before Nile's mouth opened with a gasp for breath, his fast heartbeat and adrenalin rush using up the oxygen in his body and forcing the need to inhale more quickly.

The raven leaned away to watch his mate, head cocked as his cool eyes glittered with fond pride. His Nightingale was so clever and so willing. The stirring of his arousal spiked further watching the pain Eren was inflicting on their prey. He learned so quickly, so eager his pretty little mate was to be part in this. “Very good Nightingale,” he praised, voice guttural and feral with wanting and no small amount of possessiveness, the metallic saline scent of blood, sweat and, tears only furthering the throbbing beneath his skin. 

After another second spent admiring his mate, he bent back in, pressing the flat of the blade to Nile’s tongue tauntingly. “You aren’t sorry filthy rat, but you will be,” he murmured as the forearm of his unoccupied hand dug against the bound man’s chest. Nile screamed himself silent and gurgled blood as Levi’s flicked his wrist and the blade severed the muscle and vein of the threatened appendage. 

Levi pulled the bloodied knife away, idly swaying it in his hold in the space over his own shoulder, watching with fascination as the man gagged on his own tongue, spattering bloody spittle over his own face and sending it bubbling down his chin. He clicked his tongue chidingly, covering Nile’s gaping mouth with his knife hand and shaking his head. “Swallow,” he ordered and Nile did, struggling with his aversion to the demand, gagging as the blood lubricated the passage of the severed flesh down his throat, pain and fear glossing his teary-eyed frantic gaze and panicked, wet breaths. 

Nile heaved, but it only served to force more blood into his mouth. And Levi smiled and stroked the knife along his cheek almost affectionately as he began to choke on his own blood, asphyxiating and strangling his airflow. He was drowning and it was agonizing, slow and numbing. He could not move his head to spit up the blood and draw in helpless, sobbing breaths. His eyes rolled up and met vibrantly dancing mossy depths, staring into them pleadingly in a futile bid for some reprieve.

"His choking is like music..." Eren said with awe, leaning over Nile's face to watch the man drown slowly, smiling back at his begging desperation. He looked up at Levi with excitement, completely ignoring Nile's attempt to sway him. "Your technique! It's been so clean! And not a drop of his sacrifice has yet been wasted! You truly are a wonder to behold, my Raven," Eren gushed, unable to hold back his observations, an almost manic energy starting to show in his eyes and movements. He looked down again and cocked his head to observe Nile once more, startled when the man was able to cough hard enough to splatter blood across Eren's white mask. Eren immediately stumbled back with a screech, hands flying up to hover over his mask. "He... He ruined my mask! My beautiful mask!" he cried as he fell back with a crash against the kitchen cabinet, "No! Fuck,fuck, fuck!"

Levi growled, slammed the knife into the table beside Nile’s left temple before tearing one of the others out from his right hand and wedging it on the other side of his head to keep him from moving. If he did, he’d only manage to slice his face up on the blades. Satisfied with the cage he’d made for his prey’s head, Levi turned his attention to his mate, moving towards him with measured steps. He peeled the gloves from his hands and tucked them in the back pocket of his trousers for a moment, before he framed Eren’s face with his cool hands firmly. “It’s not ruined pet. Didn’t I say I admire the colour? This face is decorated with the memory of your first flight and will remain such for all times and I will make you another and another for each future flight we share, so we might make more memories and masterpieces together,” he said seriously, the snowy silver-blue of his eyes boring intensely into his mate’s as he forced him to meet his gaze, assured and assuring. There was no need for his Nightingale to be distraught by the filthy creature’s pitiful mistake. Eren would have his retribution and Nile would pay for having upset him regardless of how true Levi’s assurance to his mate was.

Eren was lost to his despair for only a minute, being brought back from the abyss by the firm press of Levi's hands and silver eyes capturing Eren’s green. “I-I'm sorry,” Eren managed to spit out, suddenly horrified by his freak out for ruining the atmosphere of the room. “I didn't… I'm okay… Please continue, don't worry about me,” Eren said shakily trying to calm himself down as quickly as possible. He didn't want Levi to spare another precious moment of their first flight on Eren’s blunder. 

"No apologies Nightingale, you've done splendidly," Levi assured in a husky tone, removing one hand from Eren's face and brought his cool fingertips to his lips before pressing them to Eren's in a mockery of the kiss he longed for. He could not kiss his mate as he desired with their masks in place, but there would be time soon.

A shy smile formed on Eren's lips, his blush from Levi's praise engulfing his masked face and even burning a trail down his neck. He kissed Levi's fingers then lifted his body from where he was leaning on the counter, giving Levi an aroused and lingering look before he turned back to Nile who was currently wiggling on the table, trying to free himself unsuccessfully. "The worm is trying to wiggle away from you, my Raven," Eren observed, amusement filling his voice once again.

Levi looked over his shoulder at the man that was desperately writhing and convulsing on the table in an attempt to escape the bladed cage the raven had made for him. He chuckled lowly, “He’s afraid of drowning my love. He’s no wings for flying; he doesn’t deserve freedom,” he answered, amusement in the response to match his songbird’s as he pulled his gloves back on carefully. He turned back to face Nile, stepping purposefully towards him and snatching one of the knives out only to jam it back through the wrist of the hand that had been previously pinned. 

Nile’s sobbing scream was muffled by the gurgling of blood in his mouth, wet and wheezy with how little oxygen he was managing to pull in. Levi cocked his head as if in thought and hummed for a moment, looking down at the pathetic male. “Nightingale, do you want to play a game with him?” he asked after a moment, an interesting idea having taken root in his mind. It wasn’t his usual, but that was fine because he was not alone anymore. He did not want to exclude his mate, but also wanted to watch Eren inflicting the retribution and inciting that insatiable heady stirring that pulsed deep inside the raven, animated him and brought him to life. It was intoxicating.

"Ooooh... I like games!" Eren answered, prancing like a puppy to stand across the table from Levi once again; if he had a tail it would be wagging enthusiastically at the idea. "I wanna play! What do I do?" he asked, clapping his gloved hands together and standing on his tip toes. It was like his previous upset had never happened at all, Levi had managed to completely quell one of Eren's notorious fits in under a minute.

Levi half-smirked, eyes glittering with delighted lust behind his dark mask, basking in Eren’s eager excitement, knowing that he was the cause of such elation. The pride was deliciously potent, sent a thrilling shiver of liquid heat down Levi’s spine that culminated deep in his belly and throbbed there in tandem with the beat of his heart. “Alright, fetch us the salt from his pantry, I’ve no doubt you’ll find some there and bring it back. We won’t be able to play without it,” he answered, still smirking as he jerked his chin in the direction of the kitchen.

Eren cocked his head for a moment at Levi, instantly even more curious as to what game they would be playing, then dashed to the pantry. Sure enough there was a big carton of table salt, one of the only ingredients stocked other than junk food. He grabbed it then stepped back to the table, holding it up triumphantly, already looking for more praise from his lover. "What next, what next, what next, what next!" Eren sang, twirling around in spot since he couldn't keep himself still.

“Very good Nightingale,” Levi said before he turned his attention to the other blade which he abruptly wrenched out from the table on the other side of Nile’s head, making the bound guard jump. “Now you pay attention too Nile. You won’t know how to play if you don’t listen to the rules,” he chided lightly with a dark smile curving his lips, idly playing with the knife in his grip while he continued, explaining, “I need to place our signature upon our first masterpiece. Nile needs to stay very very still while I do that, so, if he moves, there’ll be a penalty. That’s your responsibility my sweet. If he moves, you feed him a mouthful of that salt, the game’s over when the signature is finished, sound like fun?”

Eren smiled wickedly at Levi, nodding his head slowly in understanding while Nile made gurgling sounds of protest. "I love to play, I love to win," he said, before he bent at the waist to rest one elbow on the table so that one hand could hold up his head while the other dangled the salt above Nile's head ready to pour. He tauntingly shook the carton at Nile who was shaking his head violently, then asked, "What's my prize?"

Levi lolled his head against his shoulder, eyes on his mate as he considered what might be a befitting prize for his mate, unconsciously wetting his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. “If you win, you can choose the way we end him, would you like that lovely?” he answered after a moment, shifting his weight restlessly as tingling warmth coursed through his blood, so eager to share in this most important and precious task. He’d never have thought it would be so exhilarating with a partner, but he had never thought he would have found a mate either and yet Eren had found him.

Back arching unconsciously under Levi's intense stare, Eren's face was suddenly set in a fierce look of determination, seriousness taking over his previous playfulness. "Oh love, now I really want to win... You're so good to me," he breathed, eyes surveying Nile’s entire body as Levi began to trail his knife up and down the man's torso, caressing the skin with the razor sharp blade. At some point near the ribcage, Levi pressed a little harder, just nicking the surface of the skin forcing Nile to flinch comically hard. The flick of Eren's wrist was immediate, dumping salt in Niles eyes instead of his mouth then snarled, "You have to fucking try harder than that Nile. You can't _let_ me win or else what's the point?" Nile wasn't paying attention to Eren's rage, too busy trying to blink the tiny irritating salt particles out of his eyes, tears streaming down his face.

Levi smiled and looked at Eren through his lashes as he ghosted the blade tip up Nile’s side, tracing his ribs idly. He inclined his head before he reached to pick up the chemical infused ink and brush to begin staining Nile’s skin with it, speaking conversationally in response to his mate’s words, “He’s right Nile, don’t be a poor sport. It’s in your best interest to keep my Nightingale entertained. You wouldn’t want to upset him and make me angry.” He dipped the tip of the brush into the midnight blue-black ink and inspected it for a drawn moment, listening to the panicked inhale and exhale of Nile’s frantic breaths and the squelching gurgle of his inarticulate protesting. 

Levi made the first line without further warning and Nile jolted. Levi pulled back and clicked his tongue as Nile squirmed and whined, shaking his head in an attempt to apologize for already breaking the rules. “You’re hopeless Nile,” Levi said, waiting for Eren to carry out the penalty before he began anew. 

“You're making this boring,” Eren sighed, bottom lip jutting out into a pout as he dumped a little pile of salt into Nile’s mouth, making him choke and gurgle more. 

Nile’s sputtering died out into gurgled wheezing and Levi began the process again. In the end it took over an hour to finish the inking which was beginning to itch and sting where it stained Nile’s skin, the chemicals beginning to burn the colour right into his flesh. The salt was nearly gone and Levi set the brush and ink aside to instead pick up the knife again, smirking when Nile jumped as he pressed the tip against the left side of his chest. “Nightingale wins,” Nile made a pitiful high whining sound, hoarse from all his earlier screaming and his salt-raw throat, thick salty blood drying his mouth out and clogging his airways. Levi shook his head and pressed harder on the knife, the tip breaking the skin, “Now now, don’t be a sore loser.” Nile made terrible rattling raspy wails and shrieks as Levi began carving into his skin, foregoing his previously favoured quote of “Nevermore” in favour of one more suitable and appropriate for the occasion of his mate’s first flight with him. 

Eren was his partner now and he would not be flying without him in the future; he’d promised not to leave him behind after all. What kind of mate would he be if he couldn’t keep his promises? As he finished, the last letter of “For Annabel” on Nile’s chest and mopped up the sluggish rivulets of blood from the wounds, he looked over at Eren, “How does it look my love?”

Eren stood up straight and abandoned the empty carton of salt on the table, then walked around the table, green eyes wide and awed. "It looks amazing..." he breathed, hand moving forward, wanting to trace Levi's strokes, but not daring to mess up his Ravens work so his fingers ghosted in the air just above Nile's skin. "For Annabel..." Eren whispered, frowning for a moment at the different signature before his eyes widened in realization. Turning around to look at Levi, Eren asked excitedly, "For me?" bouncing on his feet, hoping it was true.

Levi inclined his head, “For you Nightingale,” he said, his voice low and guttural with desire. Eren was ever so lovely like this, lit up and all Levi felt was pride and wanting under his skin. Soon enough, he assured himself, wetting his lips unconsciously, tasting the memory of Eren’s skin on his tongue. “You won the game pretty, how shall we end him?” he asked after a moment, tone husky with restrained excitement. The usual rush he got from taking life was heightened by Eren’s presence and he was eager to have Nile’s eyes burn out to empty glass while his mate was watching.

"I won the game..." Eren said, with a nod, looking up at Levi shyly through his eyelashes, "But I want to give my prize to you, my Raven... Show me how... Please teach me how to soar..." Eren bowed his head, fidgeting where he stood under Levi's scrutiny, waiting for an answer. Maybe Levi would get mad at Eren wanting him to decide, but he was never very good at making decisions and this was one of the most important.

Levi hummed, a half smile on his lips, considering. His Nightingale was not quite ready to dictate how to proceed, but Levi was not upset, perfectly content to show him; Eren had done so well all evening. There was no reason for Levi to find disappointment in his mate. Eren would become more confident in time and with practice, after all he was only just learning to fly. Levi did not mind teaching him in the slightest. “As you like Nightingale,” he agreed lowly before his attention turned back to the man crucified on the tabletop. It was so swift when he moved, the blade embedding under the left side of Nile’s ribcage in a mockery of the death of Christ, that he did not even get the chance to scream before Levi’s hands slid around his throat and squeezed, cutting off any breath he might have used to make a sound.

His eyes rolled and bulged, skin purpling as he gurgled, choked, and heaved weakly against Levi’s hold as the raven’s cold eyes watched on with molten pleasured fascination. Levi’s cock throbbed as he pressed his fingers harder, gripping Nile’s throat tighter, bruising, crushing, breaking the delicate bones and sinew, collapsing airways and leaving Nile breathless. He was smiling as the man’s eyes began to blink slower, as suffocation truly set in. He only drew away once Nile’s eyelids had stopped fluttering and remained open, glossing over as he faded from the world. Levi’s arousal peaked viciously, clawing under his skin, making him itch with it. So alive, so powerful, the carnality so potent like always, but something was different. Eren was watching. He did not usually have audience, nor an outlet aside his artwork for his lingering excitement, but that was because he had been alone. He had his Nightingale now. He turned to look at Eren, eyes alight with heady lust and dark wanting, possessive and predatory. He knew without question that Eren would not turn him away as he took the first step towards him. He would _have_ him.


	9. Worshipped and Worshipping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the love and support! Enjy this update!
> 
> Advisory: This chapter contains graphic depictions of consensual violent sex and morbid imagery, viewer discretion is advised.

Eren looked on in calculating silence as Levi's hands strangled Nile to death. All he could focus on was how strong Levi was and how perfect he looked taking the other man's life, and committing this night to memory so that he would not forget this moment for as long as he lived. When the life left Nile’s eyes, a shudder of pleasure swept through Eren's body, forcing his eyes to flutter closed, biting his lip hard as his hand drifted upwards to his own neck. He couldn't help but recall when Levi's fingers were wrapped around his throat instead, and he was instantly hard, almost confused by the jealousy he felt towards Nile for Levi's extended attention. 

It only took him a few moments to realize that he was being watched, a prickling on his skin forcing his eyes to open once again. What he saw was Levi stalking silently towards him, eyes alight with bloodlust and a predatory gleam that made Eren swallow hard. Cocking his head, Eren considered the almost murderous look Levi was giving him, wondering if the Raven required him to give his life as well, but he he didn't back away. No, Eren stood his ground though his eyes continued to dart to Levi's hands, wondering if they would soon stealing his breath. This was the first time since falling in love with Levi that Eren could truly say he felt afraid of his lover, the darkness reflected in the silver depths forcing Eren's more baser instincts to scream at him to run as the Raven drew ever closer. But the rest of Eren welcomed Levi openly, accepting this new facet of his lover and revelling in his attention. Levi was looking at Eren with want, and Eren would deny his Raven nothing. 

Heart racing with a mixture of emotions, Eren bent his head to bare his neck, a silent offering for whatever Levi wanted, even if it was Eren's life as well.

Levi growled in approval, stripping off his gloves viciously, his hands on his mate as soon as he was close enough to grab him. He was not gentle, but he was not exactly violent either, somewhere in between in the place where he owned Eren, where they belonged to each other and he was Levi’s to take. He turned him in his hold and pinned his chest to the nearest wall, knocking his mask aside in the process, one hand sliding up his abdomen and chest to wrap around his throat roughly, but without the intent to cut off his mate’s airflow completely. It was heady to hold Eren’s life in his hand, to know that the other male trusted him implicitly and was so willing. Simply exquisite. His other hand harshly shoved Eren’s trousers down and then his own, freeing his aching cock and pressing the slicked length between the plush cheeks of his mate’s rear. He raised his unoccupied hand to his mouth and bit down until his own flesh broke beneath his teeth, coating his hand in blood. He stroked it over his cock roughly a handful of times before he was guiding it to Eren’s entrance, grateful that his earlier release was still warm inside his mate and aiding along with the fresh blood in lubricating the way for him as he forced his way inside.

He bowed over Eren’s back, panting harshly and growling as he mouthed at the back of Eren’s neck, stilled inside him, throbbing as he restrained himself. “I love you Nightingale, my Annabel. Never will you belong to anyone else. You are mine and you are perfect,” he murmured breathily, pressing kisses against the knobs of Eren’s spine as he arched against the wall and Levi gripped his throat and hip, firmly binding him where they stood so that he could not shy away from the coarse intrusion.

If Eren could have made a noise around the pressure on his throat, he would have screamed as Levi forced his way inside, the pain almost unimaginable as he thought he was going to be ripped in two. But it was only a natural response to the sudden and intense stretch, not in anyway a protest. Even though it might have been one of the most agonizing things Eren had ever felt, he _liked_ the feeling, back arching and pushing himself into the stronghold of Levi's arms. He had no desire to stop, wanting Levi to take him as hard and as fast as he could, to be used for his Raven's pleasure so much that the pain was turned to pleasure. No matter how much it hurt, his own cock was twitching eagerly with each of Levi's movements, and he thought he was going to cum when the Raven said he loved him, his mind fuzzy with ecstasy and lack of oxygen.

Levi’s fingers spasmed and tightened in their grips, bruising Eren’s skin, the one at his hip slipping and staining Eren with his blood. He bit into the flesh of Eren’s shoulder, moaning gutturally and growling ferally as he slammed into his mate. He couldn’t control the ferocious and harsh thrusts of his hips, high on the domination and the heady rush of power the possessive claiming brought him. It was satisfying in a way he had never previously experienced during a flight. He’d always been left wanting, had settled just for the feeling of life death brought him, but it had still left him needing. This here was what he’d been missing. Eren did not shy away from the vicious press of his hips, the painful driving of the raven’s cock inside him. Levi knew if he loosened his grip, Eren would scream for him.

Pale digits tightened around Eren’s throat a moment before they loosened, cupping the column firmly, but no longer silencing Eren’s voice and stifling his breaths. “Sing for me Nightingale,” he ordered breathily, mouth next to Eren’s ear, encouraging his mate too cry out for him, wanting to hear his needy voice, pain and pleasure and begging for more, wanting to hear Eren wrecked and desperate beneath him. He wanted his blood and his screams, sweat, and tears and cum. He pulled him back and slammed him forward, careful to cushion his throat even in his frenzied state. He did not want to damage his mate irreparably; he’d never break him. Eren trusted him to take care of and treasure him and he would just as his Nightingale treasured him in return. 

"Fuck, Levi! I love you, Fuck I love," Eren wailed, eyes clamped shut as he used his hands to brace himself against the wall and slid his feet apart to give Levi easier access. It felt so painfully good that his body began to tremble under Levi's iron grip, the heat in his belly already on the verge of bursting. "I'm gonna," he cried when Levi pulled him back then slammed him into the wall again, knocking the wind out of his lungs sharply. He saw stars as his body released, splattering hot cum on the wall, but he wasn't able to go limp since Levi was continuing to thrust, holding him up as he pounded his still tight and abused asshole.

An animalistic sound thundered in Levi’s chest as Eren came, his body greedily clenching tighter around him, begging him to stay, to keep Eren full of himself, but he did not finish, cock pulsing and throbbing with irate pleasure as he pulled himself free, only to spin his mate towards the table on which Nile’s body was displayed, knocking Eren’s legs apart with a foot impatiently, holding one hip with a tight grip to hold him steady as he impaled him again in one unforgiving motion, his other hand sliding up Eren’s spine, pressing him down against the unoccupied space on the surface of the table, not so far from where Nile’s sightless eyes stared on endlessly. His palm slid over the younger male’s nape and his fingers slid up into Eren’s hair, fisting tightly in the fine chestnut strands and using the grip to further arch his mate’s back so that Eren would not be forced to see nothing but the table top. Instead, his mate had a perfect view of the gift he’d given him. He leaned to bite at Eren’s shoulder blades harshly, reveling in the breathy whines and trembling shivers that wracked his mate’s body as he rocked inside him and left marks all across him, mouth mapping his flesh greedily. He murmured in guttural growls, praise and pleasure for his mate, how perfect and desirable, how he could not get enough of him, how he ached for him, how Eren’s body begged for his abuse and shuddered wantonly in the wake of his violent motions. Levi was so in love with him. 

Eren made sure not to resist as he was brutally ripped around to be slammed on the table. He had already recovered from his orgasm, his dripping cock hard and aching from where it was shoved against the table. His back was arched as far as it could bend and his scalp was burning from where Levi gripped his hair, but all Eren could think was that he wanted Levi to pull harder, and thrust deeper. To tear him apart and wreck him completely so that his love, his Raven could remake him again. 

The smell of blood and salt was sharp in his nose, so he wasn't quite surprised to see Nile’s lifeless eyes staring back into his own when he finally opened the vibrant green depths. “Oh… _Oh God_...” Eren moaned, unable to unlock his eyes from Nile’s, reaching forward to grip his cooling wrist. “Did you… did you do this for me, my Raven?” Eren purred, words hitching with each of Levi's violent thrusts. “Feels… so good… I wanna… I wanna cum again,” Eren moaned, not even expecting an answer from his preoccupied lover. 

Levi’s teeth bruised the nape of his mate’s neck, growling his affirmation against his skin, “For you and for us Nightingale. It’s a new beginning, sing for me.” Levi reached around and fisted Eren’s weeping cock roughly, stroking it with vicious pumps as he fucked into the other male, still gripping his hair in his other hand. He could feel his own peak on the horizon of his pleasure, felt its searing heat stirring and coiling in his belly as he brutally pounded into his mate in time with his stroking hand and the heady rush of his heartbeat. Eren’s body clenched and rippled around him, pressing back into the harsh thrusts as best he could, begging for more and Levi did not hesitate to give it to him, all too keen to appease the predator inside himself that craved release through his mate’s willing subjugation. He turned Eren’s head and craned his own neck in order to crush their mouths together hungrily, the kiss as bruising as his fingertips and the sound he made was entirely feral as his climax finally crashed over him in heavy waves, filling Eren for several long moments as his body tensed and his hips jerked.

Eren sang every curse he knew, rocking back into every violent thrust then forward into Levi's fisted hand. Even as Levi attacked his mouth, Eren continued to sing expletives for his Raven, waiting for the man to fill him up with cum. As soon as Levi found his release deep inside Eren, the younger man found his second peak as well, cumming hard into Levi's hand with a raspy gasp, feeling like he might pass out from the blissful aftermath. 

The room became still and quiet except for the sound of the lovers’ heavy breathing and the droplets of blood from Nile still filling the jars beneath them. Eren was content, pressed underneath Levi, trying to blink the stars out of his eyes while his Raven enjoyed the aftermath of an intense orgasm. Eren couldn't help the small "I love you," he whispered even though he didn't want to disturb Levi's current state of euphoria. He just wanted to say the words over and over again until he was satisfied that Levi knew how much he indeed loved the man. No one else was important; only Levi. 

“As I love you sweet Nightingale,” came the breathy response as Levi pressed a tenderly reverent kiss between his mate’s shoulder blades before he reluctantly withdrew. He used a clean hand towel from their things to wipe both himself and Eren clean before he tucked himself away again and redressed his lover gently in blatant contrast to his previous possessive aggression. Now that the beast in him had been sated, the raven was properly providing the doting aftercare his mate deserved for his unwavering trust and acceptance. His Nightingale was the only one who’d ever been deserving of his concern and Levi did not want him to ever doubt he was cherished.

Once their clothing had been replaced and all their supplies had been collected and evidence that could betray them had been removed, Levi led the way back to where they had left the car. He packed everything inside before assisting his sore and exhausted mate into the passenger seat, pulling him against his side once he’d slipped into his own seat. He hummed a soft melody and stroked Eren’s side as he drove them back to their hotel. 

It didn't take long for Eren to drift off to sleep to the sound of Levi's deep voice humming him a lullaby. He was so tired from their exciting night, he didn't even wake when they arrived at the hotel, lost in a deep and dreamless slumber. When he did awake, he was sprawled across the bed face down and naked as he drooled into a pillow. He lifted his head only slightly, green eyes bleary as he looked for his mate, hearing his dark voice from somewhere, but almost too tired to decipher that Levi was on the phone. With a loud groan, Eren stretched, rolling onto his back with an unhappy hiss from the pain in his backside. Fuck, Levi had destroyed his ass during their rough coupling.

The sound of water came as Levi turned on the faucets to fill the large tub with steamy water, adding soothing oils and salts to the liquid as it spilled into the porcelain basin. He slipped out of the bathroom and padded down the short hallway towards where he’d left his mate asleep on the bed. “Yes, I’ve finished my business here for now. You’ve done as I said?” Levi spoke into the phone pressed to his ear as he rounded the corner, noticing that Eren was awake immediately and gracing him with a soft smile. He stepped over to him and stroked his fingers through his mussed hair and down the side of his face affectionately, continuing on with the conversation he was in the middle of with Hange, his agent, “Wonderful, send them all now. I’ll have it decided before the night is out. You’ll have it prepared for my return tomorrow. And the other things I require as well.” 

He nodded vaguely as the woman spoke on the other end of the line, his mercury stare never straying from his mate as he continued to caress his hair and skin, petting him affectionately. “Tomorrow then,” he bid in farewell before he ended the call and set the phone aside on the night table. 

“I’ve prepared a bath for you Nightingale,” he said with a fond smile, reaching to pick his mate up, coaxing Eren into his arms easily and carrying the exhausted and sore young man to the humid bathroom. “How are you feeling pretty? I hadn’t intended to hurt you,” he continued as he settled his mate in the tub. The sudden unexpected ferocity of his desire had indeed not been what he had intended when he had invited his songbird to fly with him, but he did not regret that it had happened, since he felt a profound sense of peace within him in its aftermath and Eren had not even considered denying him, had gladly welcomed his brutality, unflinchingly, revelled and basked in it even. Even so, Levi wanted to be sure his mate knew how much it was appreciated, how pleased and proud Levi was for having his unwavering trust and devotion, and to return the gesture with doting tenderness of his own, a desire he’d never before had for another person, lover or otherwise. Only his Nightingale, his soul mate deserved such lavish attention from him and he was generous with it for Eren alone.

Eren shook his head hard in protest, “Oh no! You didn't hurt me!” he said in earnest, until he winced hard when his weight settled on his tender ass. Eren started to frown when Levi gave him a look that said he wasn't fooling anyone. “Okay, it hurt… But only like a little,” he conceded with a pout, trying to stretch out in the tub and flinching even harder at the ache in his body. “Okay,” he said again, ducking his head in embarrassment, “It hurt a lot… But even if it hurt… It felt…” Eren paused a moment as he remembered Levi fucking him into a wall and then into the table without restraint, his eyes fluttering closed as a shudder of pleasure swept through his body, forcing him to clamp his knees tightly together as he squirmed where he sat. “Really fucking amazing… Like so good… Best sex ever,” he breathed before his eyes opened in horrified shock. He hadn't actually meant to tell Levi that, his cheeks now flaming red as he spluttered to correct himself, waving his hands erratically and beginning to splash water everywhere. “Not to say that our sex isn't normally good! It's always good! Like amazingly amazing! You are really good at sex. Kind of makes me get anxious ‘cause then I wonder how much you had to practise to get so good to make me putty in your hand by just like touching my knee casually or some shit… Fuck I'm pretty sure you could make me cum by just giving me the right glare… But then that makes me think of your past partners and it makes me get really nauseous and angry,” he rambled, frowning further as he got off track, “No! What I meant was…” he paused, taking a deep breath before he began to scrub his face with his wet hands. “I'm not good at explaining shit… You are a lot better with words than I am…” he finally concluded, giving Levi a lost and helpless look, his cheeks a bright shade of rosy scarlet. 

Levi chuckled, his gaze soft and endeared, flattered by his mate’s flustered rambling. He leaned over the side of the tub, reaching to draw Eren in, pressing his lips to the younger male’s in assurance, pulling back a moment after, meeting Eren’s eyes with his own intensely. “There have never and will never be any others like you Nightingale. I’ve never felt such fire as ignites in me when I touch your skin. Those before you are meaningless, nothing in comparison, few and far between and all left me hollow, dissatisfied and disappointed. But you… You are madness. You are passion, and you are peace. I will never have enough of you. The pleasure and desire you find even in the shadowed and vicious parts of me only proves that you are made for me my love. Let me soothe the hurts I left. Precious things deserved to be treasured,” the raven said, the words soft spoken, husky and warm with his possessive adoration, assured and assuring in their truth. There was no one like his songbird.

He followed up his words with careful, gentle gestures, reverent as he trailed his fingertips over Eren’s temple, cheek and down the side of his throat, tracing the darkening marks marring the soft skin there. His unoccupied hand reached for the provided crystal water decanter on the marbled tub ledge, filling it unconsciously with water from the filled basin, preparing to wet Eren’s hair and cleanse away the sweat, blood and tears from his supple skin. The warmth of the water, and the soothing oils and salts that he’d added would surely ease the aches his brutal lovemaking had left in Eren and what they did not relieve, he would kiss and knead away when they were finished with the bathing. 

"Mmm," Eren hummed, sitting back and eyes fluttering closed so that Levi could wet his hair, "See I told you... You are much better at words than I am." He relaxed against the tub, realizing that Levi wanted and needed to take care of him, and he wouldn't reject such caring touches. Sure, Eren ached for Levi's desire, but he also wanted the Raven's love and affection. "You know..." Eren started, looking up at Levi with his sparkling green eyes, "I didn't just grin and bare it... It was... Fucking amazing the way you claimed me so entirely..." Eren's hand drifted up to touch the deep bite marks embedded in the flesh of his shoulders, smiling to himself as he looked down into the water. "It felt like a part of you that you normally hold back from me... A part that you only share with those you save... You shared it with me… You trusted me enough to share... Before our flight only Levi Ackerman had claimed me..." Eren tried to explain, lifting his eyes to meet Levi's, "Now it feels like the Raven has claimed me as well..." He smiled brightly at Levi before he bit his lip and looked down again, suddenly shy. "Maybe... On our next flight... My Raven will claim me once more... So I can feel this delicious ache all over again..." he said haltingly, not sure how Levi would feel about repeating what had happened. Maybe he wouldn't want to lose control with Eren again since he seemed so remorseful for hurting his love, but Eren seriously hoped that wouldn't be the case. 

Levi cocked his head, watching the motions of his own hands as he washed his lover attentively. He hummed, quietly acknowledging what his mate had said, warmed by Eren’s willingness and apparent pride in the aching the raven had branded inside him. He wet his lips, silvery eyes shifting back to his songbird’s, seeing the heat of desire and devotion in the depths and knowing Eren was honest in his words. Levi could feel a throbbing in his core that was neither painful, nor unwelcome, but something wholly consuming and pulsing with eager elation. “Even if I promised to abstain, it would only be made a lie. The Raven craves its mate as surely as I do for we are the same creature. I adore the bruises you beg from me my love and I could deny you no more than I could deny the desire to possess you so thoroughly. Through pain, through pleasure, death and blood and life, we’ll fly together from now until always. I will not hold back or hide from you; I will never break you beyond repair and I will always soothe your hurts after because you are mine and because I love you Nightingale. You are irreplaceable to me,” he replied, watching Eren, massaging honeyed soap into his mate’s skin, along his collar and shoulder, spreading soft suds to his chest and down his back as he spoke. Eren would give him all of himself, had been from the beginning, had been patient and loyal and devoted, accepted, celebrated, and loved all facets of his very nature, was unafraid of the dark that lived inside him that others instinctively shied away from and in return Levi cherished and coveted him as he’d cherished and coveted no one before. He would do anything for his Nightingale. Eren deserved everything.

Eren made small noises of happiness as Levi's hands washed and massaged his body, committing Levi's promise to memory, feeling elated at such words when suddenly his head snapped up to meet Levi's eyes. “I figured out how to explain it!” Eren said, grabbing Levi's hand to put on his chest right over his heart. “Tonight, you claimed my soul!” he said with excitement, bouncing in the tub and making the water slosh around him. “You may have hurt my body… But that doesn't matter! It's just a vessel!” Eren said, the words tumbling out of his mouth so fast that they were almost impossible to decipher. With a manic bright smile, he continued, “It all makes such perfect sense now! When the Raven stalked towards me, even I was scared for a moment… But then I offered myself to you…” Eren was reiterating the details in his head feverently before he sat up onto his knees to lean over the tub and look directly into Levi's eyes as his arms wound around his waist. Eren tried to speak again, but his breath hitched as his eyes were filled to the brim with sparkling tears of happiness. “I offered my soul to you willingly, my love! You don't need to take my life like you do the others, since my soul is already yours… You'll never have to save me through force… I'm already saved! You saved me, Levi, so I can stay on earth with you until the Raven comes for us both! I understand everything now…” Stretching up, he gave Levi a lingering and passionate kiss before he moved back just to say “I love you,” whispered against the man's lips. 

Levi tasted Eren’s love on his lips, like honey on his tongue, sweet and thick and he swallowed it, pressing in for another taste, only breaking away again when they were both breathless. He smiled when he drew back, hands framing Eren’s face as his thumbs caressed over the young man’s cheeks adoringly. “As I love you my songbird. We will be together until the end and after,” he promised, finding Eren’s explanation an adequate description. It made sense as he’d said and Levi could not think of a better way to describe it. They were meant to be together; it was right that Eren should offer his soul and that Levi should accept it without reservation. For it to be freely given, perhaps with fear, but without hesitation and with unwavering trust, there was no need to force it from the willing body. Instinctively, he had not gone too far, recognizing his mate even in the depths of his own darkness, sought, coveted and tasted Eren’s light, but would not extinguish it. To snuff out that light would leave him blind and lonely again and even the Raven was unwilling to part with it.

He rinsed the slick suds from his mate’s skin, satisfied by the warm flush and healthy glow to bruised mottled tanned flesh and he pulled the plug free of the drain. Then stood and retrieved a towel as the water escaped the basin and he carefully wrapped the thick soft terrycloth around Eren before he was picking him up again tenderly, taking him back to their temporary bed. He settled him on the bedding and began the process of drying Eren’s skin gently. He started with his hair and worked his way down until he finished with his feet. He let the towel pool on the floor next to him as he knelt before his mate and held his foot in his hand, the other caressing up his calf to his knee, and he leaned forward to press a kiss the to smooth top of the captive appendage. And another at his ankle then his knee, then repeated the gestures on the other leg before he moved on, pressing kisses to thighs and hips, paying special care to the bruises that he’d left on his mate’s beautiful flesh. As he finished with Eren’s chest, he slipped onto the bed and behind his love, pressing kisses along his spine, between his shoulder blades and to the tender bites over his nape, coming to rest beneath his ear. His breath stirred and his lips ghosted against the skin as he spoke, “We’re going home tomorrow my love. Will you help me choose the perfect nest for us tonight?”

Eren panted and shivered, neck craning as he watched Levi kiss up his body. The gentle touches were just enough to leave him wanting, his spent cock somehow twitching back to life, but he knew there was no way he could go another round with Levi at the moment. Eren had to let his body recover. The young man was lost in his desire for a few moments until he felt Levi's breath stir against his ear, forcing him to focus. “We are? So soon?” Eren asked breathily, turning his head to try and look into Levi's eyes. “Is that what you were talking about on the phone? Who were you talking to?” Eren questioned, trying to ignore the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach for Levi talking to _anyone_ but him. 

“I suppose she’s what you would call a friend, my agent, Hange Zoe. I reconnected with her yesterday while I was out. She’s sent me listings for the properties available by the ocean and already began preparation for a return show. Now that our work is done here, I should like to find our place, we’ve no reason to linger,” Levi explained, framing his lover’s face with his cool hands, eyes searching, recognizing the unease as their gazes met, taking a moment to conclude what had caused it. “Are you nervous my love? You needn’t be, Hange has proven herself to be a trustworthy ally over the years. She would not betray me. She’s quite _enthusiastic_ about my return and to meet you. I gave her very specific instructions in order to find only nests that would be suitable for us. Shall we have a look?” he finished, a soft smile of reassurance curling on his lips as his thumb caressed along Eren’s jaw soothingly.

Eren turned his head away to hide the pout that formed on his lips. “You don't need friends… You have me,” he said quietly, filled with petulance as he wiggled away from Levi's touch. He didn't like that Levi was close to someone else, someone that he knew before he knew Eren. What if he liked this Hange? Eren didn't know if he would be able to share. 

Levi hummed, amused by his mate’s possessive petulance and pleased by it. He did not mind in the least that Eren wanted to monopolize him. It was such a sweet and devoted desire and it was mutual; Levi had no intention to share his precious mate with any other either. He reached over to pluck the phone off the nightstand before he settled back against the headboard and though he did not force Eren to his side, he did make certain his posture was welcoming of it should his mate wish to get close again. “I use the term friend because there is no other that is properly suitable, but I’ve little attachment to her aside from a useful ally, much like how I’d describe your family I’d imagine. I’d not mourn the loss of them,” he said idly as he unlocked the screen and scrolled through the emails until he’d found the one Hange had tagged as property listings, clicking the links to view the exquisite and lavish private beach homes that might be suitable for their needs. He glanced at Eren from under his lashes as he changed the subject conversationally, “This one here has a converted lighthouse. The view is exquisite.”

Eren rolled to sneak a peek at Levi, trying to act covertly so that Levi wouldn't notice him looking. “Is that so?” he said, trying to keep his voice indifferent and act nonchalant. Crawling across the bed, Eren sneakily slithered his way between Levi's legs, nuzzling Levi's cock on his way up before he settled his face on the man's stomach. “Is it pretty?” Eren asked, still trying to act like he didn't care, but he very seriously wanted to have a look. 

Levi smiled, pretending not to watch Eren as the younger male snuck his way up between his legs. He hummed appreciatively when Eren nuzzled his manhood affectionately before he rested his head on his flat muscled belly, his unoccupied hand idly stroking through the still mildly damp chestnut locks. "It is. The lighthouse has two levels, the master bedroom is on the first level with a wrap around balcony and a staircase leading up to the top level. I'd have my studio there. The lighting would be ideal. It's spacious, very old but remodeled. It'd make a fine nest. There's even a cove that belongs to the property. Would you like to see Nightingale? It could be ours by the morning," he said coaxingly, finding Eren's stubborn petulance to be rather endearing. It was very clear his mate was interested, curious, but valiantly pretending not to be in a bid to express his displeasure over Levi's relationship with Hange. Levi found it rather adorable really.

Eren lifted his head to look at Levi, nipping at Levi's toned belly. He was quiet for a few moments, before he sunk his teeth in a little harder, giving Levi a reprimanding bite before he looked away again. “Yeah… I wanna see it,” he mumbled, still unhappy but not wanting to give up his chance to see their new nest before Levi made a decision. 

Levi's abdominals flexed under the pressure of Eren's teeth, but he didn't scold him or push him away, unconcerned by the sting and subsequent ache of bruising. His Nightingale was welcome enough to mark him as he liked, after all Levi had left his own marks all across him. The bite was recognized for the possessive reprimand it was and he growled softly, the sound thrumming in his chest as his fingers tangled in Eren's hair more firmly, his other hand shifting to allow Eren to view the property he was currently looking at.

Eren smirked proudly at Levi, happy that the bite served its purpose, nuzzling into the hard pull Levi had on his hair. His eyes widened as he took in the photos of the property, sitting up to drift closer and closer to the screen as Levi clicked through the images. “It's perfect!” Eren squealed, diving forward to shove his face into Levi's neck as he pressed their bellies together, his previous upset completely forgotten. 

The Raven's smile returned, a pleasant curl to his rosy lips as he softened his grip again, returning to stroking the soft strands, purring as Eren buried his face against his neck. "You sure Nightingale? We can look at others?" He teased softly, charmed amusement and fondness flickering in the warmed, liquid silver of his eyes, sensing and pleased that his mate's mood had seemed to lighten as soon as he'd looked at the home Levi had been describing to him.

Eren immediately pulled back from Levi's neck to give him a full on puppy dog pout, eyes wide and lip quivering. "But I like that one! Do you not like it? Is there another you like better?" Eren whined, only about an inch from Levi's face. "In that one, I can go swimming! And the master is gorgeous," he began to explain, snatching Levi's phone out of his hands to click through the pictures once again. 

Levi chuckled and ruffled Eren's hair playfully. "I'm only teasing you pretty. I prefer that one as well. It's private and quiet, clean and beautiful. It will be perfect for our first nest. Shall I buy it then my love?" and it would be far away from Eren's triggering family, a safe place where his mate and he could rest and be free of the scathing judgement of those that did not understand them.

Eren nodded his head enthusiastically, his smile almost painfully stretched across his teeth. He couldn't wait for them to reach their new home, having no idea that Levi was whisking him away from his family and everything he knew; even if he had realized it, it would make no difference. “I'm gonna have to invite Mikasa and Armin to come see when we are all settled,” Eren said with a giggle, sitting up to straddle Levi's hips, “I’m so excited! It's going to be perfect.” He began to bounce on top of Levi's body, a very lewd action that he was making with complete innocence. “You're gonna love my sister when you meet her,” Eren said, looking down at Levi and suddenly cocking his head as he reached up to trail his knuckles over Levi's cheekbone. “You guys are kind of similar in a way,” he compared out loud. “Quiet and dark. Although I've never wanted to fuck my sister,” Eren explained, face scrunching up with disgust at the thought. 

Levi hummed, palming Eren's hips, "I'm sure we'll get on well enough. So long as they stay out of our bedroom and my studio, and they don't arrive unannounced or upset you, they're welcome to visit pretty," he agreed, not mentioning that he'd already met Eren's sister or his parents, unwilling to press him or upset him since he was aware Eren had locked the memories away somewhere where they could not hurt him. Levi did not care to force him with such things; he would keep Eren safe and content as only he could and blood or not, Eren's family would be handled like any other threat barring the permanent removal of their existence from the universe.

He turned his head to kiss Eren's knuckles and smiled up at him with possessive adoration. "Some of my things will already be there when we arrive my love, but when we wake and during our travel, I'd like very much for you to choose some furnishings for us and to have the cherished things from your previous home brought over as well. Perhaps Armin and your sister could arrange it? We must make our nest a home for us to share, suited to both of us and comfortable as it should always be," he said, voice low, serious, but warm with wanting for that future, so close now, he could nearly taste it. He could look to tomorrow with eager anticipation for it was the start of a new life for them both, in which neither had to be anything but what they meant to each other.

Eren nodded to Levi rolling off of him to kick and scream ecstatically into a pillow. "Thank you thank you thank you, Levi! I'm so happy, I could just explode," he squeaked before he continued squealing into his pillow. 

Levi’s quiet, deep chuckle sounded once again and he reached to run his hand down Eren’s back, fingertips trailing down his spine affectionately as he squirmed and squealed. So lovely was his Nightingale when he was brimming with elation and so warm was the pride under Levi’s skin for having been the reason for it. “You’re are welcome my love. I am pleased that you are so eager. You are so lovely when you are happy,” he replied before he slipped down further into the bed, sending a simple, curt response to Hange with the link to the home they’d decided upon and setting the phone aside. 

The sun was beginning to creep over the horizon, painting the sky outside the windows in vibrant magenta, purple and orange hues as dawn broke and Levi decided it was time his mate got some rest. They’d had such a long and busy night and several hours of travel to come when they woke again, so it was time for bed. “Come Nightingale, it’s time to sleep. When we wake, we will go home together, hm,” he prompted, reaching to draw his mate against him comfortably once again.

Eren managed to quell his giggles with a large yawn, suddenly feeling tired after getting no sleep. He dove into Levi's arms, snuggling as close as he could get to the warmth of his lovers body before he sighed deeply, face rubbing into Levi's chest. “I love you… have a good sleep,” he said tiredly, eyes closing as his breath evened out. Eren couldn't wait to see their new nest and when he dreamed that night, he flew so fast that there was no way for Levi to leave him behind. They would be together forever. 

“As I love you my sweet Nightingale…”


End file.
